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Feeble vs Wretched - What's the difference?

feeble | wretched |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between feeble and wretched

is that feeble is (obsolete) to make feeble; to enfeeble while wretched is (obsolete) hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked.

As adjectives the difference between feeble and wretched

is that feeble is deficient in physical strength; weak; infirm; debilitated while wretched is very miserable; sunk in, or accompanied by, deep affliction or distress, as from want, anxiety, or grief; calamitous; woeful; very afflicting.

As a verb feeble

is (obsolete) to make feeble; to enfeeble.

feeble

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Deficient in physical strength; weak; infirm; debilitated.
  • Though she appeared old and feeble , she could still throw a ball.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 23 , author=Tom Fordyce , title=2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=France were transformed from the feeble , divided unit that had squeaked past Wales in the semi-final, their half-backs finding the corners with beautifully judged kicks from hand, the forwards making yards with every drive and a reorganised Kiwi line-out beginning to malfunction.}}
  • Lacking force, vigor, or efficiency in action or expression; faint.
  • That was a feeble excuse for an example.

    Synonyms

    * (physically weak) weak, infirm, debilitated * faint

    Derived terms

    * enfeeble * feebleness * feeble-minded * feebly

    Verb

    (feebl)
  • (obsolete) To make feeble; to enfeeble.
  • References

    * *

    wretched

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Very miserable; sunk in, or accompanied by, deep affliction or distress, as from want, anxiety, or grief; calamitous; woeful; very afflicting.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1918, author=(w)
  • , title=Creatures That Once Were Men, and other stories, chapter=4 citation , passage=As for me, I felt wretched and helpless, in the darkness, surrounded with angry waves, whose noise deafened me.}}
  • Worthless; paltry; very poor or mean; miserable.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1864, author=(Fyodor Dostoyevsky), title=Notes from Underground, chapter=1
  • citation , passage=My room is a wretched , horrid one in the outskirts of the town.}}
  • *, chapter=17
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.}}
  • * , Episode 16
  • All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood, from some bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag,.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=April 11, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Liverpool 3-0 Man City , passage=Mario Balotelli replaced Tevez but his contribution was so negligible that he suffered the indignity of being substituted himself as time ran out, a development that encapsulated a wretched 90 minutes for City and boss Roberto Mancini. }}
  • (obsolete) Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked.
  • Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "wretched" is often applied: woman, state, life, condition, creature, man, excess, person, place, world, being, situation, weather, slave, animal, city, village, health, house, town.

    Quotations

    * To what wretched state reserved! Milton * Wretched ungratefulness . Sir Philip Sidney * Wrechet World King Lear

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * wretchedness