"forcible-feeble" meaning in English

See forcible-feeble in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more forcible-feeble [comparative], most forcible-feeble [superlative]
Etymology: From Francis Feeble, a character in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, to whom Falstaff derisively applies the epithet forcible. Head templates: {{en-adj}} forcible-feeble (comparative more forcible-feeble, superlative most forcible-feeble)
  1. (archaic) Having a vigorous appearance, but in reality weak or insipid. Wikipedia link: Henry IV, Part 2, William Shakespeare Tags: archaic Synonyms: forcible-Feeble
    Sense id: en-forcible-feeble-en-adj-xOhFeCpb Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "etymology_text": "From Francis Feeble, a character in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, to whom Falstaff derisively applies the epithet forcible.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more forcible-feeble",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most forcible-feeble",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "forcible-feeble (comparative more forcible-feeble, superlative most forcible-feeble)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1850, The North British Review, volumes 13-14, page 2:",
          "text": "He would purge his book of much offensive matter, if he struck out epithets which are in the bad taste of the forcible-feeble school.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1879, Henry James, chapter III, in Hawthorne, London: Macmillan & Co., page 63:",
          "text": "But [allegory] is apt to spoil two good things—a story and a moral, a meaning and a form; and the taste for it is responsible for a large part of the forcible feeble writing that has been inflicted on the world.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, part III:",
          "text": "Skin-the-Goat, assuming he was he, evidently with an axe to grind, was airing his grievances in a forcible-feeble philippic anent the natural resources of Ireland or something of that sort which he described in his lengthy dissertation as the richest country bar none on the face of God's earth […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Having a vigorous appearance, but in reality weak or insipid."
      ],
      "id": "en-forcible-feeble-en-adj-xOhFeCpb",
      "links": [
        [
          "vigorous",
          "vigorous"
        ],
        [
          "weak",
          "weak"
        ],
        [
          "insipid",
          "insipid"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Having a vigorous appearance, but in reality weak or insipid."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "forcible-Feeble"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Henry IV, Part 2",
        "William Shakespeare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "forcible-feeble"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From Francis Feeble, a character in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, to whom Falstaff derisively applies the epithet forcible.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more forcible-feeble",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most forcible-feeble",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "forcible-feeble (comparative more forcible-feeble, superlative most forcible-feeble)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English eponyms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1850, The North British Review, volumes 13-14, page 2:",
          "text": "He would purge his book of much offensive matter, if he struck out epithets which are in the bad taste of the forcible-feeble school.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1879, Henry James, chapter III, in Hawthorne, London: Macmillan & Co., page 63:",
          "text": "But [allegory] is apt to spoil two good things—a story and a moral, a meaning and a form; and the taste for it is responsible for a large part of the forcible feeble writing that has been inflicted on the world.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, part III:",
          "text": "Skin-the-Goat, assuming he was he, evidently with an axe to grind, was airing his grievances in a forcible-feeble philippic anent the natural resources of Ireland or something of that sort which he described in his lengthy dissertation as the richest country bar none on the face of God's earth […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Having a vigorous appearance, but in reality weak or insipid."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "vigorous",
          "vigorous"
        ],
        [
          "weak",
          "weak"
        ],
        [
          "insipid",
          "insipid"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Having a vigorous appearance, but in reality weak or insipid."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Henry IV, Part 2",
        "William Shakespeare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "forcible-Feeble"
    }
  ],
  "word": "forcible-feeble"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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