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''feeble'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''feeble'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260610195455-00-⌔

feeble - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

feeble (comparative feebler, superlative feeblest)

  • Deficient in physical strength.
    • ✤ Though she appeared old and feeble, she could still throw a ball.
    • ✤ Pent up in Utica he vainly forms
      A poor Epitome of Roman Greatneſs,
      And, cover’d with Numidian Guards, directs
      A feeble Army, and an empty Senate,
      Remnants of mighty Battels fought in vain.      1
    • ✤ You’ve had your time
      Gonna walk that line
      Like a living travesty,
      Endlessly bound to your sins
      I’ll hunt you down in time
      You’re just a feeble swine
      How can I compromise
      When all you do is deny      2
    • ✤ France were transformed from the feeble, divided unit that had squeaked past Wales in the semi-final, their half-backs finding the corners with beautifully judged kicks from hand, the forwards making yards with every drive and a reorganised Kiwi line-out beginning to malfunction.3
  • Lacking force, vigor, or effectiveness in action or expression; faint.
    • ✤ That was a feeble excuse for an example.

Verb

feeble (third-person singular simple present feebles, present participle feebling, simple past and past participle feebled)

  • (obsolete) To make feeble; to enfeeble.

Etymology

From Middle English feble, from Anglo-Norman feble (“weak, feeble”) (compare French faible), from Latin flēbilis (“tearful, mournful, lamentable”) by dissimilation, from fleō (“to weep, cry”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ﹡bʰleh₁-. Doublet of foible.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfiːbəl/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -iːbəl

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2: ↩

  2. 2003, “Figure Number Five”, performed by Soilwork: ↩

  3. 2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport ‎: ↩

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Secondary

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