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faint

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faint¹

  • /feɪnt/ US, UK

Sounds like feint · Rhymes with -eɪnt

Where it comes from

From Middle English faynt, feynt (“weak; feeble”), from Old French faint, feint (“feigned; negligent; sluggish”), past participle of feindre, faindre (“to feign; sham; work negligently”), from Latin fingere (“to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in thought, imagine, conceive, contrive, devise, feign”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold”). Cognate with feign and fiction and more distantly dough.

adjective fainter · faintest · feint

  1. Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness I felt faint after my fifth gin and tonic.
  2. Lacking courage, spirit, or energy; cowardly; dejected. Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.
  3. Barely perceptible; not bright, or loud, or sharp. There was a faint red light in the distance.
  4. Performed, done, or acted, weakly; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy. faint efforts
  5. Slight; minimal. a faint chance
  6. archaic Sickly, so as to make a person feel faint. Happening to pass a fruiterer’s on their way; the door of which was open, though the shop was by this time shut; one of them remarked how faint the peaches smelled.

noun faints

  1. The act of fainting, syncope. She suffered another faint.
  2. rare The state of one who has fainted; a swoon.

faint²

  • /feɪnt/ US, UK

Sounds like feint · Rhymes with -eɪnt

Where it comes from

From Middle English fainten, feynten, from the adjective (see above).

verb faints · fainting · fainted

  1. intransitive To lose consciousness through a lack of oxygen or nutrients to the brain, usually as a result of suddenly reduced blood flow (may be caused by emotional trauma, loss of blood or various medical conditions). A fainting fit.
  2. intransitive To lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent. If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
  3. intransitive To decay; to disappear; to vanish. November 12, 1711, Alexander Pope, letter to Henry Cromwell Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before the eye.

Similar: queal

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