Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Lacking bodily strength; weak.
  • adjective Having little intensity or strength; faint.
  • adjective Having little capacity to withstand pressure or strain.
  • adjective Lacking vigor or effectiveness; inadequate.
  • adjective Showing little activity: synonym: weak.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To weaken; enfeeble.
  • To grow faint or weak.
  • Miserable; poor; common; mean.
  • Lacking strength; lacking capacity for forcible action or resistance; weak; specifically, reduced to a state of weakness, as by sickness or age.
  • Wanting in force exerted, whether of action or resistance; lacking in intensity, vividness, energy, or efficiency; faint: as, a feeble voice; a feeble light; feeble thinking; a feeble argument or poem.
  • Exhibiting or indicating weakness: as, a feeble appearance.
  • noun A feeble person.
  • noun Weakness; feebleness.
  • noun Same as foible, 1.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To make feble; to enfeeble.
  • adjective Deficient in physical strength; weak; infirm; debilitated.
  • adjective Wanting force, vigor, or efficiency in action or expression; not full, loud, bright, strong, rapid, etc.; faint

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Deficient in physical strength; weak; infirm; debilitated.
  • adjective Lacking force, vigor, or efficiency in action or expression; faint.
  • verb obsolete To make feeble; to enfeeble.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality
  • adjective lacking strength
  • adjective lacking strength or vigor
  • adjective pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English feble, from Old French, from Latin flēbilis, lamentable, from flēre, to weep.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English feble, from Anglo-Norman feble ("weak, feeble"), from Latin flēbilis ("tearful, mournful, lamentable"), from flēre ("to weep"), akin to fluere ("to flow"); see fluent.

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Examples

  • Morons, who correspond to the common acceptation of the term feeble-minded, "can under proper direction become more or less self-supporting but they are as a rule incapable of undertaking affairs which demand judgment or involve unrestricted competition with normal individuals.

    Applied Eugenics Paul Popenoe 1933

  • My argument is simple: without a serious and bold policy for eliminating unemployment, all of the proposed measures to address women's economic challenges, or those of any other group for that matter, will remain feeble attempts to deal with serious problems.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

  • My argument is simple: without a serious and bold policy for eliminating unemployment, all of the proposed measures to address women's economic challenges, or those of any other group for that matter, will remain feeble attempts to deal with serious problems.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

  • My argument is simple: without a serious and bold policy for eliminating unemployment, all of the proposed measures to address women's economic challenges, or those of any other group for that matter, will remain feeble attempts to deal with serious problems.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

  • My argument is simple: without a serious and bold policy for eliminating unemployment, all of the proposed measures to address women's economic challenges, or those of any other group for that matter, will remain feeble attempts to deal with serious problems.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

  • My argument is simple: without a serious and bold policy for eliminating unemployment, all of the proposed measures to address women's economic challenges, or those of any other group for that matter, will remain feeble attempts to deal with serious problems.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

  • There were many hereditary inefficients -- men and women who were not weak enough to be confined in feeble-minded homes, but who were not strong enough to be ought else than hewers of wood and drawers of water.

    Chapter V 2010

  • President Barack Obama has drawn fire for his failure to win passage of domestic climate legislation and what is often described as the feeble U.S. pledge to reduce carbon emissions 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

    UN Climate Conference Kicks Off In Cancun With Limited Expectations AP 2010

  • President Barack Obama has drawn fire for his failure to win passage of domestic climate legislation and what is often described as the feeble U.S. pledge to reduce carbon emissions 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

    UN Climate Conference Kicks Off In Cancun With Limited Expectations AP 2010

  • I am sorry N, but the idea of clobbering you because you are feeble is just a distraction.

    Pro Death Lobby Newmania 2007

Comments

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  • YOghurt anyone who reads this, I recently started a new religion called Feeblism.

    It currently has 24 members.

    I made it because I am sick of everyone describing anything bad as 'gay'.

    If you want to join, just send me a comment (it's not official or anything, I don't know how to make it an fficial religion) and you can be a member!

    All you have to do is occasionally use the word feeble, not just for weak things, but for anything bad (the equivalent of what young people use the word 'gay' for).

    Also, if you want to be in the higher circles of Feeblism, when you greet someone you have to slap both your elbows then pretend to throttle yourself while saying hello in any non-English language.

    You CAN have it alongside other religions.

    SO, PLEASE JOIN! IT'S PATHETICALLY LACKING IN NUMBERS!

    IT'S FEEBLE!

    (I shall soon be putting a video on youtube called 'Feeblism' if you need more information, if you want to ask anything comment my wordie page or my youtube name is cabbagesr4eva).

    THANK YOU!

    September 26, 2008

  • It's a fine word, and a fine social action.

    September 26, 2008

  • CEF. To make it into an fficial religion, first you start a superfficial religion. Then, just before you go fficial, you have a last super.

    September 26, 2008

  • Yeah everyone says that but noone wants to join :(

    Really? How do you satrt a superficial religion?

    September 26, 2008

  • Choue. I know it's not exactly what you're asking but you're not asking about exactly what I'm saying you need.

    Anyway to start a superfficial religion, you first need a superfficial prophet, preferably yourself or someone you relate to - past, present or future.

    Then you need a book of good ideas about living and dying.

    There are Wordies here experienced in book processing who can guide you.

    My humble suggestion for a working title for your religion is 'The Wholly Feeble'.

    Look forward to celebrating your last super.

    September 26, 2008

  • let my peeble go!

    September 26, 2008

  • or maybe more correctly let my pheeble go

    September 26, 2008

  • You could distribute veeblefetzers to your members.

    September 26, 2008