(n.) A moral weakness; a failing; a weak point; a frailty.
(n.) The half of a sword blade or foil blade nearest the point; -- opposed to forte.
Example Sentences:
(1) Many of the patients anthropomorphise the seal, enjoy pretending that it is a real, living creature, with all the associated foibles.
(2) This week's edition of the FT's How to Spend It, suggests some Christmas foibles – £625 gloves, £705 Black Amber perfume, a £10,000 Boodles bangle.
(3) We're given a vivid description, details and foibles, before the town is populated with a cast of characters to rival any soap opera.
(4) If the mot juste was always a priority – "I suppose we all have our foibles.
(5) The sharp-witted late-night TV star, who regularly skewers the foibles of other celebrities, found himself on the end of the same treatment after being at the centre of a bizarre blackmail plot over the sexual affairs he had with younger female staff members.
(6) Children and their services have been prey to causes célèbres, fashion and the exaggerated fads and foibles of the media and politicians; they have thrived best when society and their carers were tolerant, and loving, sought good qualities to augment, not evil to exorcise, and succeeded in balancing structure and control with flexibility and freedom to grow.
(7) While cables exposing the foibles of Pakistan's civilian leaders triggered a media feeding frenzy, the press largely ignored revelations that cast the powerful military in a bad light, including its alleged support for Islamist extremist groups such as the Taliban.
(8) This is not about the exposure of one man's alleged foibles.
(9) We tend not to pin that badge on Ukip because of a paradoxical foible of Britishness that makes imagined immunity from aggressive identity politics a point of national pride.
(10) I'm afraid I didn't enjoy either Django Unchained or Inglourious Basterds – they were too self-reverential for my taste – but, as a writer, nobody in the world has a better ear for the foibles and vulnerabilities of his bad guys than Tarantino.
(11) Gray was as funny and vicious about his own haplessness as he was about the foibles of others.
(12) WS: That Bafta routine of yours in the show was the crux for me – a perfect exemplar of your character’s foibles, because the ambiguity is absolute: Does he care about not winning one or not?
(13) By contrast, this collection – which will be available online immediately and in shops in July – celebrated British foibles and eccentricities, in the animal-motif knitwear and eclectic mix of town and country fabrics.
(14) The well done steak is not simply a personal foible, like preferring pepperoni pizza to a margarita.
(15) And, for all his foibles, Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter is a man you'd follow, too.
(16) This essay on the last years of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's life exhibits all of Sebald's strengths as a writer – and all of his strange, gnomic, secretive foibles.
(17) For example, I've never heard him acknowledge that, in joking about Georgina Sachs's sexual foibles and menstrual cycle , he was demeaning to her.
(18) Over the years, scrutiny of Westminster has gradually come to rest on personal foibles, grudges and coups both real and imaginary - a kind of higher office-politics.
(19) The emphasis was always on the comedy, the foibles and peccadilloes of the characters, a gentle cynicism about the ways of the world, a joy in puns, a love of irritating footnotes, a relish for the bathetic puncturing of the bombastic – and above all an irrepressible and infectious silliness.
(20) None of us is free of foibles and peculiarities that the patient notices sooner or later.
Shortcoming
Definition:
(n.) The act of falling, or coming short
(n.) The failure of a crop, or the like.
(n.) Neglect of, or failure in, performance of duty.
Example Sentences:
(1) This paper provides an overview of the theory, indicating its contributions--such as a basis for individual psychotherapy of severe disorders and a more effective understanding of countertransference--and its shortcomings--such as lack of an explanation for the effects of physical and cognitive factors on object relatedness.
(2) The author describes changes in the activities of the psychiatric institutions, analyzes the causes of the changes and shortcomings in the work of the in- and outpatient services.
(3) Attention is drawn to the shortcomings in our current knowledge of the scale of turnover of the sulphur cycle and of our understanding of the microorganisms involved in specialized environments.
(4) False-positive results due to methodological shortcomings can be avoided by applying both methods in succession.
(5) This validity coefficient turned out to be so high (r = 0.967) that it does not seem necessary to adopt a more sophisticated method, despite a few demonstrable shortcomings of the one in use.
(6) Diagnostic information derived from PA catheters should be related to the clinical condition and shortcomings and pitfalls of data clearly understood.
(7) The reasons for the shortcomings of the DRG system in predicting utilization of services are discussed, and areas for future research are suggested.
(8) A system of ordering the relative toxicity of these (and other) drugs is proffered using the exposure-case fatality rate (ECFR) as a crude measure of clinical toxicity (while delineating its shortcomings).
(9) The crash exposed shortcomings in standards in regulators almost as bad as in banks.” The Treasury denied it was involved in the review being dropped, although it has been involved in changing some of the tougher rules being used to clamp down on bankers.
(10) Saxo Bank said: "This highlights one of the shortcomings of the status quo in the European periphery: that Portugal (and other peripheral countries) exiting the programmes at this stage appears rather premature.
(11) Dean's system, however, has several shortcomings, principally its inability to measure fluorosis in different tooth surfaces.
(12) The shortcomings of existing statistical software for personal computers and trends of their improvements are analyzed.
(13) At the same time, application of DNA rearrangement to the evaluation of tissue specimens also has certain shortcomings and limitations, some of which may be overcome by current research methods or advances expected in the near future.
(14) Mohammed Siddique, a 60-year-old imam, and his 24-year-old son, Mohammed Waqar, punished the boy for perceived shortcomings during religious lessons at the Sparkbrook Islamic centre, attached to the Jamia mosque, in Birmingham.
(15) Existing bedside emergency resuscitation carts all have certain shortcomings, which interfere with the rapid, efficient care of the hospitalized patient in a catastrophic episode.
(16) The nature and shortcomings of relevant studies are described, the need for scientifically based research championed, and a differential approach to directive treatment of borderline children advocated.
(17) David Bennett, A&L's group chief executive, said: "I apologise sincerely for our shortcomings.
(18) He is undaunted by their scale, and realistic about their shortcomings.
(19) Jeb Bush should stop trying to defend his brother and focus on his own shortcomings and how to fix them,” he tweeted .
(20) After expressing frustration with Stoke City's style of play, the dreadful standard of the game and the lack of width available on a pitch narrowed to exploit Rory Delap's throw-ins, Tony Mowbray finally realised that a sixth defeat in seven matches might also owe something to West Bromwich Albion's shortcomings.