feeble

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“
It is by no means so for the feeble, the self-indulgent, the helplessly dependent class, of whom, unfortunately, we have so large a number in the over-populated Old Country.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Lacking strength; weak.
  2. adjective Indicating weakness.
  3. adjective Lacking vigor, force, or effectiveness; inadequate. See Synonyms at weak.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

weak ·  faint ·  helpless ·  foolish ·  uncertain ·  slight

Used in the same contextWord Family

feeble:   feeblest
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

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

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English feble, rarely fieble, febul, from Anglo-French feble, Old French feble, feuble, foible (later English foible), etc.; earlier Old French flebe, fleuble, floible, etc., French faible = Provencal feble, fible, freble = Spanish feble = Portuguese febre = Italian fievole, weak, feeble, from Latin flebilis, tearful, mournful, lamentable, from flere, weep, akin to fluere, flow: see fluent. For the development of meaning, cf. Middle High German swach, miserable, pitiable, weak, German schwach, weak; Gothic (Moesogothic) wainags, lamentable, pitiable, unhappy, miserable; Old High German weneg, weinag, German wenig, little, few.
  2. from Middle English feblen, make feeble, become feeble, from Old French febleier, febloier (also afebleier, afebloier), make feeble, from feble, feeble: see feeble, adjective Cf. enfeeble.
 

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/ˈfibl/
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