foible

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A minor weakness or failing of character.
  2. noun The weaker section of a sword blade, from the middle to the tip.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

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

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples

  • His prevailing foible was a desire of shining in those exterior accomplishments which nature had denied him. —  Lives of the English Poets
  • Not an unkind word is said; occasionally a foible or a trait is hit off, but all is done cleverly and in the most genial temper. —  Eugene Field A Study In Heredity And Contradictions
  • An irritating foible, but one that we had to observe. —  When Eight Bells Toll
  • Apparently his foible was a fondness for cats; one of them, a superb brindled Persian cat, is a great beauty, and seems a particular favourite. —  The Journal of Sir Walter Scott From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford
  • “His vanity, excusable as such a foible is in such a man, led him to unpardonable excesses, and blinded him to the advantages of being respected in society .... —  The Life of Nelson
 

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Foible has been looked up 480 times, favorited twice, listed 67 times, and commented on 6 times.

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

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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 (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Obsolete French foible, weak point of a sword, weak, from Old French feble, weak; see feeble.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French foible, another form of faible (as a noun, faible, a weak point, a weakness, failing), from Old French feble, etc., feeble: see feeble.
 

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/ˈfɔɪbl/
by American Heritage

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