: state or condition of health, fitness, wholeness, spirit, or form
—often used in the phrase in fine fettle
I proved to her I was in fine fettle by consuming a herculean portion of eggs scrambled with onions and smoked salmon.—
Lawrence Sanders
Lawrence SandersHe stopped practicing or even warming up before tournament rounds in order to spare strain on the risky hip. His golf game was nonetheless in fine fettle—provided he could keep swinging.—Alfred Wright
Alfred Wright
fettled; fettling
ˈfe-tᵊl-iŋ 
ˈfet-liŋ
: to cover or line the hearth of (something, such as a reverberatory furnace) with loose material (such as sand or gravel)
Synonyms
Examples of fettle in a Sentence
Noun
a visit to the relatives on the other side of the state revealed them all to be in fine fettle
Recent Examples on the Web
Matt Slater, The Athletic, 5 Aug. 2024
That level of hostility put her in fine fettle to deal with Kevin James’ gang of escaped cons, who arrived seeking a mysterious item at the family’s summer house.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 26 May 2023
Robert Ross, Robb Report, 1 July 2024
Audi engineers have had some fun fettling the underpinnings of the GT, which, with all the ministrations of carbon fiber, carbon-ceramic brakes, and whatnot, loses a mere 33 pounds and weighs in at a still substantial 4,565 pounds.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 6 Feb. 2024
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Noun
Having spent the interwar period yo-yoing between the divisions, United emerged from the Second World War in fine fettle on the pitch but a mess off it.
—Matt Slater, The Athletic, 5 Aug. 2024
That level of hostility put her in fine fettle to deal with Kevin James’ gang of escaped cons, who arrived seeking a mysterious item at the family’s summer house.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 26 May 2023
Verb
Half a century on, the majority of these early supercars have been fussed with and fettled within an inch of their lives, some impeccably restored, some surviving in near-original condition, and most in various states of functionality.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 1 July 2024
Audi engineers have had some fun fettling the underpinnings of the GT, which, with all the ministrations of carbon fiber, carbon-ceramic brakes, and whatnot, loses a mere 33 pounds and weighs in at a still substantial 4,565 pounds.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 6 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for fettle
Dictionary Entries Near fettle
Cite this Entry
“Fettle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fettle. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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