Word of the Day Archive
Friday August 3, 2012
foible \FOI-buhl\
, noun:
1. A minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect: an all-too-human foible.
2. The weaker part of a sword blade, between the middle and the point (opposed to forte).
Irascibility was his sole foible; for in fact the obstinacy of which men accused him was anything but his foible, since he justly considered it his forte.
-- Edgar Allan Poe, "X-ing a Paragrab", Poetry and Tales
I fear, on the contrary, if they came under your examination, there is not one in whom you would not discern some foible!
-- Fanny Burney, Camilla
Related to the word feeble, foible is derived from the Latin word flēbilis which meant "lamentable."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for foible
