foible

American  

[foi-buhl] / ˈfɔɪ bəl /

noun

• foibles
  plural

1. a minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect.

   an all-too-human foible.

   Synonyms:

   peculiarity, eccentricity, crotchet, quirk, frailty

   Antonyms:

   strength

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

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foible British  

/ ˈfɔɪbəl /

noun

1. a slight peculiarity or minor weakness; idiosyncrasy

2. the most vulnerable part of a sword's blade, from the middle to the tip Compare forte 1

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Synonym Usage

See fault.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• foibles
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foible foibles

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

It is of this marvellous tribute, and how it was won, that we should think,—not of this or that foible or shortcoming, for who is without them?

From Queen Victoria As I Knew Her by Sir Theodore Martin

“She certainly writes about people’s limitations and foibles, but always with this generosity and this empathy.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

“It is infectious to play a character who sees the best in people and isn’t mad at the world for all its foibles and bullies and shadows,” Sudeikis recently told the Hollywood Reporter.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026

Throughout his career, Neill pitted himself against creatures both real and imagined — or, even more often, somewhere in-between — to reveal humanity’s foibles in the face of the freakish and fantastic.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026

The foibles of the Mets are so many and so weird that Mets fans themselves have embraced a term for them: LOLMets.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026

I could see liking that: You’d get to know a small group of men, their characters and foibles, and they’d get to know you.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

Related Words

• eccentricity
• failing
• frailty
• idiosyncrasy
• infirmity
• peculiarity
• quirk
• shortcoming
• weakness