flebile

faint

adjective FLEH-bee-leh Rare

Origin: From Latin flebilis, mournful, from flere, to weep.

Also means

feeble

Usage Note

Flebile describes a weak, thin, barely audible sound or a frail light. It has a literary and slightly archaic tone — una voce flebile (a faint voice), un flebile pianto (a feeble weeping). It is invariable for gender (both m and f use the same form) and changes only for number: flebili (pl).

Examples

"Si sentiva una voce flebile in lontananza."

Natural Translation

A faint voice could be heard in the distance.

Literal Translation

There-was-heard a voice faint in the-distance.

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