: 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
ˈfet-liŋ 
ˈfe-tᵊl-iŋ
: 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 WebDennis Harvey, Variety, 26 May 2023
The three women are in fine fettle, with dog-walking grandmother Suzie finding local fame (if not fortune) on the radio and septuagenarian Judith still crafting fiendishly clever crosswords and scandalizing local birdwatchers by skinny-dipping even in winter.
—Yvonne Zipp, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 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
See all Example Sentences for fettle 
Noun
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
The three women are in fine fettle, with dog-walking grandmother Suzie finding local fame (if not fortune) on the radio and septuagenarian Judith still crafting fiendishly clever crosswords and scandalizing local birdwatchers by skinny-dipping even in winter.
—Yvonne Zipp, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 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
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fettle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near fettle
Cite this Entry
“Fettle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fettle. Accessed 26 Jul. 2024.
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