foible

[foi-buhl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR foible ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect: an all-too-human foible.

the weaker part of a sword blade, between the middle and the point (opposed to forte).

Origin of foible

1640–50; < French, obsolete form of faible feeble

Synonyms for foible

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR foible ON THESAURUS.COM

1. frailty, quirk, crotchet, eccentricity, peculiarity. See fault.

Antonyms for foible

1. strength.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for foible

quirk, idiosyncrasy, failing, peculiarity, eccentricity, shortcoming, weakness, frailty, infirmity, kink, vice, fault, oddity, defect, mannerism, characteristic, singularity

Examples from the Web for foible

Historical Examples of foible

You know vanity is not my foible, therefore I need not fear your censure.
Sir William Herschel: His Life and Works
Edward Singleton Holden
Vanity had been the foible of her childish years; it was now the vice of her womanhood.
The Daltons, Volume I (of II)
Charles James Lever
Mrs. Vint had pricked his conscience, but she had wounded his foible.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866
Various
His foible is, a canine appetite for popularity and fame; but he will get above this.
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
I am afraid my mother is rather exacting; it is a Blake foible.'
Lover or Friend
Rosa Nouchette Carey

British Dictionary definitions for foible

foible

noun

a slight peculiarity or minor weakness; idiosyncrasy

the most vulnerable part of a sword's blade, from the middle to the tipCompare forte 1 (def. 2)

Word Origin for foible

C17: from obsolete French, from obsolete adj: feeble

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for foible

1640s, "weak point of a sword blade" (contrasted to forte), from French foible (n.), from obsolete foible (adj.) "weak," from Old French foible "feeble," dissimilated from Lain flebilis (see feeble). Extended sense of "weak point of character" is first recorded 1670s. Related: Foibles.