feeble

There’s a well-known scene from a 2001 episode of “SpongeBob SquarePants” in which a mob of fish mistakes a feeble old man for a bully and attacks him.

From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026

Manager Arne Slot spoke before the game about having nine players missing but that is no excuse for yet another feeble performance from his team.

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

The Liverpool fans had every right to remind their rivals of their triumph last season, but it was a timely reminder too of how far their side has fallen in a feeble title defence.

From BBC ● May 3, 2026

Most of his defenders found this argument to be feeble.

From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2026

Then the cathode-ray tube glowed like an imitation, feeble TV image; a collage formed, made of apparently random colors, trails, and configurations which, until the handles were grasped, amounted to nothing.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

In a feebler, curious state, falsehoods can take root while truth slips through our hands, and vice versa.

From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2025

He was atop the gate again during last year’s 70th anniversary celebrations, looking much feebler as he was helped to his feet beside Xi.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 30, 2022

The storm surge along the coast was feebler than feared in many places, and the Mississippi River stayed well below the tops of the levees.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2019

Is it any wonder that Rhode Island’s economy is consequently feebler than it should be, leaving its residents with less money in their pockets and fewer opportunities to get ahead?

From Washington Times ● May 18, 2018

He could not even explain satisfactorily why he had decided against it: Every time he tried to reconstruct the internal arguments that had led to his decision, they sounded feebler to him.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

And yet, time and time again, powerful corporations have been allowed to pursue their cases, often all the way to a victory, with the feeblest claims of harm.

From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2025

But they weakened their endorsement after several members had questions about how well it works in the feeblest of patients, whether boosters will be needed and be effective, and the cost.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2023

They are all diegetic — actual numbers performed by the characters — and are thus connected to the story, as in a jukebox musical, by only the feeblest of threads.

From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2022

And yet, even the feeblest nature lovers feel the sap rising, which is surely to the good.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 11, 2019

Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us—there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan