Dictionary

feebly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈfiːbli/

Etymology

From Middle English febly; equivalent to feeble + -ly, euphonically blending -le and -ly. Compare nimbly, nobly, and Latinate -ably and -ibly.

Meanings

1. In a feeble manner.
   • Feebly ſhe ſhriekt, but ſo feebly indeed / That Britomart heard not the ſhrilling ſound. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 95:
   • The hurt nigger moaned feebly somewhere nearby, and then fetched a deep sigh that made me mend my pace away from there. 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 215:

Forms