fee·ble

[fee-buhl]
adjective, fee·bler, fee·blest.
1.
physically weak, as from age or sickness; frail.
2.
weak intellectually or morally: a feeble mind.
3.
lacking in volume, loudness, brightness, distinctness, etc.: a feeble voice; feeble light.
4.
lacking in force, strength, or effectiveness: feeble resistance; feeble arguments.

Origin:
1125–75; Middle English feble < Old French, variant of fleible (by dissimilation) < Latin flēbilis lamentable, equivalent to flē(re) to weep + -bilis -ble

fee·ble·ness, noun
fee·blish, adjective
fee·bly, adverb
non·fee·ble, adjective
non·fee·ble·ness, noun
non·fee·b·ly, adverb
un·fee·ble, adjective
un·fee·ble·ness, noun
un·fee·b·ly, adverb


1. See weak.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To feebleness
00:10
Feebleness is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Collins
World English Dictionary
feeble (ˈfiːbəl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
1.  lacking in physical or mental strength; frail; weak
2.  inadequate; unconvincing: feeble excuses
3.  easily influenced or indecisive
 
[C12: from Old French feble, fleible, from Latin flēbilis to be lamented, from flēre to weep]
 
'feebleness
 
n
 
'feebly
 
adv

feeble (ˈfiːbəl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
1.  lacking in physical or mental strength; frail; weak
2.  inadequate; unconvincing: feeble excuses
3.  easily influenced or indecisive
 
[C12: from Old French feble, fleible, from Latin flēbilis to be lamented, from flēre to weep]
 
'feebleness
 
n
 
'feebly
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

feeble
late 12c., from O.Fr. feible, from L. flebilis "lamentable," lit. "that is to be wept over," from flere "weep." The first -l- was dropped in O.Fr. by dissimilation.

feebleness
c.1300, from feeble + -ness.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Example sentences
The world's biggest democracy is coy to the point of feebleness in promoting its values abroad.
They are essentially autocracies, given the feebleness of corporate governance.
He knocked the rich, but knocked the poor too for their feebleness.
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT