sad sack

noun, Slang.
1.
a pathetically inept person, especially a soldier, who continually blunders in spite of good intentions.
Origin
after the cartoon character created in 1942 by U.S. cartoonist George Baker (1915-75)
Related forms
sad-sack, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for sad sack

sad sack

noun
1.
(US, slang) an inept person who makes mistakes despite good intentions
Word Origin
C20: from a cartoon character created by G. Baker, US cartoonist
Slang definitions & phrases for sad sack

sad sack

noun phrase

An awkward, unfortunate, harried, and maladjusted person; eightball, schlemazel: nevertheless stuck with an inexplicable sad sack of a leading man

[Students 1920s+ & esp WWII armed forces; fr the unflattering image of a human being as primarily a container for feces]


Idioms and Phrases with sad sack

sad sack

A singularly inept person, as in Poor George is a hopeless sad sack. This term alludes to a cartoon character, Sad Sack, invented by George Baker in 1942 and representing a soldier in ill-fitting uniform who failed at whatever he tried to do. It was soon transferred to clumsily inept civilians.