foible
Americannoun
-
a minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect.
an all-too-human foible.
- Synonyms:
- peculiarity, eccentricity, crotchet, quirk, frailty
- Antonyms:
- strength
-
the weaker part of a sword blade, between the middle and the point (opposed to forte).
noun
-
a slight peculiarity or minor weakness; idiosyncrasy
-
the most vulnerable part of a sword's blade, from the middle to the tip Compare forte 1
Related Words
See fault.
Etymology
Origin of foible
First recorded in 1640–50; from French, obsolete form of faible feeble
Explanation
If you repeat foible out loud enough times, it sounds so funny that you can laugh at it and maybe remember to laugh at the odd and distinctive weaknesses of others — the foible or two or a hundred that we all have. Sometimes a foible helps make a person who they are, even if the foible, or weakness ("feeble" is a close relative), is a little odd. Synonyms for foible in a negative sense are "failing," "shortcoming," and in a more positive sense "quirk," "eccentricity." It can likewise be annoying or endearing. Most people have a foible, or idiosyncrasy, that stands out to others, but interestingly, a person rarely sees his or her own characteristic foible.
Vocabulary lists containing foible
100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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The Bluest Eye
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 12
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If one had to nail down the central theme of “The Audacity,” aside from pure human foible, it would be the perils posed to privacy by the profitability of data.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
Mice, it turns out, can’t puke — a little foible that typically makes it difficult to use them to study nausea.
From New York Times • Nov. 1, 2022
"Never For Ever" ultimately produced three Top 20 singles, including the indelible foible "Babooshka."
From Salon • Sep. 25, 2022
“Nathan for You” was zippy, and loath to waste a minute, especially when it could reveal a charming or dumbfounding human foible.
From Washington Post • Jul. 15, 2022
Not that it seemed an inveterate foible; the expert observer thought it rather the reflex attraction of the strongest possible horror and repulsion, and took it the more seriously on that account.
From The Crime Doctor by Hornung, Ernest William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
