Adjacent Words

Feeble definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FEE'BLE, a. [I know not the origin of the first syllable.]
1. Weak; destitute of much physical strength; as, infants are feeble at their birth.
2. Infirm; sickly; debilitated by disease.
3. Debilitated by age or decline of life.
4. Not full or loud; as a feeble voice or sound.
5. Wanting force or vigor; as feeble efforts.
6. Not bright or strong; faint; imperfect; as feeble light; feeble colors.
7. Not strong or vigorous; as feeble powers of mind.
8. Not vehement or rapid; slow; as feeble motion.
FEE'BLE, v.t. To weaken. [Not used. See Enfeeble.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness; "a feeble excuse"; "a lame argument" [syn: feeble, lame]
2: lacking strength or vigor; "damning with faint praise"; "faint resistance"; "feeble efforts"; "a feeble voice" [syn: faint, feeble]
3: lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality; "a feeble old woman"; "her body looked sapless" [syn: decrepit, debile, feeble, infirm, rickety, sapless, weak, weakly]
4: lacking strength; "a weak, nerveless fool, devoid of energy and promptitude"- Nathaniel Hawthorne [syn: feeble, nerveless]

Merriam Webster's

adjective (feebler; feeblest) Etymology: Middle English feble, from Anglo-French, from Latin flebilis lamentable, wretched, from fl?re to weep — more at bleat Date: 12th century 1. a. markedly lacking in strength b. indicating weakness 2. a. deficient in qualities or resources that indicate vigor, authority, force, or efficiency b. inadequate, inferior Synonyms: see weak • feebleness noun • feebly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 weak, infirm. 2 lacking energy, force, or effectiveness. 3 dim, indistinct. 4 deficient in character or intelligence. Derivatives: feebleness n. feeblish adj. feebly adv. Etymology: ME f. AF & OF feble, fieble, fleible f. L flebilis lamentable f. flere weep

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Feeble Fee"ble (f[=e]"b'l), a. [Compar. Feebler (-bl[~e]r); superl. Feeblest (-bl[e^]st).] [OE. feble, OF. feble, flebe, floibe, floible, foible, F. faible, L. flebilis to be wept over, lamentable, wretched, fr. flere to weep. Cf. Foible.] 1. Deficient in physical strength; weak; infirm; debilitated. Carried all the feeble of them upon asses. --2 Chron. xxviii. 15. 2. Wanting force, vigor, or efficiency in action or expression; not full, loud, bright, strong, rapid, etc.; faint; as, a feeble color; feeble motion. ``A lady's feeble voice.'' --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Feeble Fee"ble, v. t. To make feble; to enfeeble. [Obs.] Shall that victorious hand be feebled here? --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(feebler, feeblest) 1. If you describe someone or something as feeble, you mean that they are weak. He told them he was old and feeble and was not able to walk so far... The feeble light of a tin lamp. ADJ • feebly His left hand moved feebly at his side. ADV: ADV with v 2. If you describe something that someone says as feeble, you mean that it is not very good or convincing. This is a particularly feeble argument. = weak ADJ • feebly I said 'Sorry', very feebly, feeling rather embarrassed. = weakly ADV: ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Weak, not strong. 2. Debilitated, enervated, sickly, infirm, languishing, languid, declining, drooping, frail. 3. Faint, imperfect, dim, without vigor, lacking intensity or vividness or force.

Moby Thesaurus

abulic, afraid, aged, ailing, anemic, anile, asthenic, backward, barely audible, blear, bleared, bleary, bloodless, blurred, blurry, cachectic, chicken, confused, cowardly, crabbed, dark, debilitated, decrepit, decrescendo, delicate, dim, dim-witted, distant, dizzy, doddered, doddering, doddery, drained, drooping, droopy, dull, effete, emasculated, enervated, enfeebled, etiolated, exhausted, failing, faint, faint-voiced, fainthearted, faintish, feckless, feebleminded, filmy, flabby, flaccid, flimsy, floppy, foggy, forceless, fossilized, fragile, frail, fuzzy, gentle, gerontal, gerontic, gone, gutless, half-baked, half-heard, half-seen, half-visible, half-witted, hazy, healthless, helpless, ill-defined, imbecile, imperceptible, impotent, impuissant, in poor health, inadequate, inconclusive, inconspicuous, indefinite, indistinct, indistinguishable, ineffective, ineffectual, infirm, insignificant, insubstantial, insufficient, invalid, invertebrate, lame, languid, languishing, languorous, limber, limp, listless, low, low-profile, lustless, marrowless, merely glimpsed, misty, moribund, moronic, mossbacked, moth-eaten, mummylike, murmured, namby-pamby, nerveless, obscure, out of focus, pale, palsied, paltry, papery-skinned, peaked, peaky, pianissimo, piano, pithless, pliable, pooped, poor, powerless, puny, ravaged with age, reduced, reduced in health, rickety, rubbery, run to seed, run-down, rusty, sapless, scarcely heard, semivisible, senile, shadowy, shaky, shoddy, shriveled, sickly, simpleminded, sinewless, slack, slight, slow, slow-witted, soft, soft-sounding, soft-voiced, spineless, spiritless, strengthless, stricken in years, subaudible, subdued, thin, timeworn, tottering, tottery, unavailing, uncertain, unclear, unconvincing, undefined, unhardened, unhealthy, unmanned, unnerved, unplain, unproved, unrecognizable, unrigorous, unsatisfactory, unsound, unstrung, unsubstantial, unsustained, vague, valetudinarian, valetudinary, weak, weak-kneed, weak-minded, weak-voiced, weak-willed, weakened, weakly, wet, whispered, wishy-washy, with low resistance, withered, wizened, woozy