fettle
1 of 2noun
fet·tle ˈfe-tᵊl 
: 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 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
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 Wrightfettle
2 of 2verb
fettled; fettling ˈfet-liŋ
ˈfe-tᵊl-iŋ
transitive verb
: to cover or line the hearth of (something, such as a reverberatory furnace) with loose material (such as sand or gravel)
Synonyms
Noun
- condition
- estate
- form
- health
- keeping
- kilter
- nick [British]
- order
- repair
- shape
- trim
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
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 Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 16 Aug. 2022 Your business sense is in high fettle in April and your ambition should grow as May arrives, but this isn’t a good time to launch a new business. Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 29 Mar. 2021 Your competitive spirits are in fine fettle, and your ability to take the lead is enhanced during the upcoming four to five weeks. Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 5 Jan. 2021 Fincher places it at San Simeon, the plush stronghold of William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance, in excellent fettle), where Mankiewicz was often invited, in the nineteen-thirties. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2020 America’s most recent employment figures captured a jobs market in fine fettle: firms added 128,000 new workers in October, while unemployment held near historically low levels and wages rose at a respectable clip. The Economist, 7 Nov. 2019 The Pole has started the league campaign in fine fettle, with five goals in just two matches masking what has been a relatively slow start to the season by Bayern's standards. SI.com, 25 Aug. 2019 To avoid a repeat this year, organizers enlisted the help of a company that usually lays the tarmac for airport runways and the track remained in fine fettle throughout. Matias Grez, CNN, 18 Jan. 2020 The Ritz, a smart London hotel where Margaret Thatcher spent her last days, is in fine fettle, turning a neat annual profit and valued in the region of £800m—not bad for a property bought for a piffling £75m in 1995. The Economist, 31 Oct. 2019 Robert Ross, Robb Report, 5 July 2022 Even my new friend here— a show car almost certainly hand-fettled for the occasion —suffers from faults of panel alignment. Dan Neil, WSJ, 8 Dec. 2017 View 39 Photos If today’s Leaf is that one-percenter, this new-generation car is formed and fettled to be a 10-percenter. Bengt Halvorson, Car and Driver, 6 Sep. 2017 See More
Noun
Executed with the full approval of the Red Bull team, this particular model took no fewer than 2,500 hours of development work and 250 hours to cast, fit, fettle, paint and assemble. Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 16 Aug. 2022 Your business sense is in high fettle in April and your ambition should grow as May arrives, but this isn’t a good time to launch a new business. Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 29 Mar. 2021 Your competitive spirits are in fine fettle, and your ability to take the lead is enhanced during the upcoming four to five weeks. Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 5 Jan. 2021 Fincher places it at San Simeon, the plush stronghold of William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance, in excellent fettle), where Mankiewicz was often invited, in the nineteen-thirties. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2020 America’s most recent employment figures captured a jobs market in fine fettle: firms added 128,000 new workers in October, while unemployment held near historically low levels and wages rose at a respectable clip. The Economist, 7 Nov. 2019 The Pole has started the league campaign in fine fettle, with five goals in just two matches masking what has been a relatively slow start to the season by Bayern's standards. SI.com, 25 Aug. 2019 To avoid a repeat this year, organizers enlisted the help of a company that usually lays the tarmac for airport runways and the track remained in fine fettle throughout. Matias Grez, CNN, 18 Jan. 2020 The Ritz, a smart London hotel where Margaret Thatcher spent her last days, is in fine fettle, turning a neat annual profit and valued in the region of £800m—not bad for a property bought for a piffling £75m in 1995. The Economist, 31 Oct. 2019 Verb
Original owners of these Springfield Rolls-Royces would have had drivers whose job was not just to steer and stop and shift all four gears, but to fettle the mechanicals, grease the Alamite fittings, change the belts and polish, polish, polish. Robert Ross, Robb Report, 5 July 2022 Even my new friend here— a show car almost certainly hand-fettled for the occasion —suffers from faults of panel alignment. Dan Neil, WSJ, 8 Dec. 2017 View 39 Photos If today’s Leaf is that one-percenter, this new-generation car is formed and fettled to be a 10-percenter. Bengt Halvorson, Car and Driver, 6 Sep. 2017 See More Word History
Etymology
Verb and Noun
British dialect, to set in order, get ready, from Middle English fetlen to shape, prepare; perhaps akin to Old English fetian to fetch — more at fetch
First Known Use
Noun
1740, in the meaning defined above
Verb
1881, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing fettle
fettle
noun
as in health
a state of being or fitness a visit to the relatives on the other side of the state revealed them all to be in fine fettle Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- health
- condition
- shape
- repair
- estate
- trim
- keeping
- kilter
- form
- nick
- order
- practice
- practise
- footing
- posture
- situation
- stage
- pass
- phase
- status
- scene
- standing
- rank
- picture
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- disorder
- disrepair