| Learning / English Dictionary |
FEEBLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lacking strength
Example:
a weak, nerveless fool, devoid of energy and promptitude
Synonyms:
feeble; nerveless
Classified under:
Similar:
powerless (lacking power)
Derivation:
feebleness (the state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age))
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality
Example:
her body looked sapless
Synonyms:
debile; decrepit; feeble; infirm; rickety; sapless; weak; weakly
Classified under:
Similar:
frail (physically weak)
Derivation:
feebleness (the state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age))
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lacking strength or vigor
Example:
a feeble voice
Synonyms:
faint; feeble
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
weak (wanting in physical strength)
Derivation:
feebleness (the quality of lacking intensity or substance)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness
Example:
a lame argument
Synonyms:
feeble; lame
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
weak (wanting in physical strength)
Derivation:
feebleness (the quality of lacking intensity or substance)
Context examples:
Cool objects like brown dwarfs can be invisible when viewed by visible-light telescopes, but their thermal glow — even if feeble — stands out in infrared light.
(A cold, close neighbor of the Sun, NASA)
All that I should express would be inadequate and feeble.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Brissenden lay sick in his hotel, too feeble to stir out, and, though Martin was with him often, he did not worry him with his troubles.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
He had not gained the crown of the slope, when he heard a sudden scuffle behind him and a feeble voice bleating for help.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The feeble flame must be cherished tenderly if it were to gather strength and live.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Eventually, the galaxy, named D100, will lose all of its gas and become a dead relic, deprived of the material to create new stars and shining only by the feeble glow of old, red stars.
(Hubble Sees Plunging Galaxy Losing Its Gas, NASA)
He had begun to romp with them in a feeble, awkward way, and even to squabble, his little throat vibrating with a queer rasping noise (the forerunner of the growl), as he worked himself into a passion.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
To be losing such pleasures was no trifle; to be losing them, because she was in the midst of closeness and noise, to have confinement, bad air, bad smells, substituted for liberty, freshness, fragrance, and verdure, was infinitely worse: but even these incitements to regret were feeble, compared with what arose from the conviction of being missed by her best friends, and the longing to be useful to those who were wanting her!
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Will not your mind misgive you when you find yourself in this gloomy chamber—too lofty and extensive for you, with only the feeble rays of a single lamp to take in its size—its walls hung with tapestry exhibiting figures as large as life, and the bed, of dark green stuff or purple velvet, presenting even a funereal appearance?
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
But he talked of flannel waistcoats, said Marianne; and with me a flannel waistcoat is invariably connected with aches, cramps, rheumatisms, and every species of ailment that can afflict the old and the feeble.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
