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faint
[ feynt ]
adjective
- lacking brightness, vividness, clearness, loudness, strength, etc.:
a faint light;
a faint color;
a faint sound.
Synonyms: dull, dim, ill-defined, indistinct
- feeble or slight:
faint resistance;
faint praise;
a faint resemblance.
Synonyms: weak, irresolute
- feeling weak, dizzy, or exhausted; about to lose consciousness:
faint with hunger.
Synonyms: languid
- lacking courage; cowardly; timorous:
Faint heart never won fair maid.
Synonyms: dastardly, timid, fearful, pusillanimous
- Law. unfounded:
a faint action.
verb (used without object)
- to lose consciousness temporarily.
- to lose brightness.
- Archaic. to grow weak; lose spirit or courage.
noun
- a temporary loss of consciousness resulting from a decreased flow of blood to the brain; a swoon:
to fall into a faint.
faint
/ feɪnt /
adjective
- lacking clarity, brightness, volume, etc
a faint noise
- lacking conviction or force; weak
faint praise
- feeling dizzy or weak as if about to lose consciousness
- without boldness or courage; timid (esp in the combination faint-hearted )
- not the faintest or not the faintest idea or not the faintest notionno idea whatsoever
I haven't the faintest
verb
- to lose consciousness, esp momentarily, as through weakness
- archaic.to fail or become weak, esp in hope or courage
noun
- a sudden spontaneous loss of consciousness, usually momentary, caused by an insufficient supply of blood to the brain Technical namesyncope
Derived Forms
- ˈfaintly, adverb
- ˈfaintness, noun
- ˈfaintishness, noun
- ˈfaintish, adjective
- ˈfaintingly, adverb
- ˈfainter, noun
Other Words From
- fainter noun
- fainting·ly adverb
- faintish adjective
- faintish·ness noun
- faintly adverb
- faintness noun
- over·faint adjective
- over·faintly adverb
- over·faintness noun
- un·fainting adjective
- un·faintly adverb
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of faint1
Idioms and Phrases
see damn with faint praise .Example Sentences
You can still see them going by, but barely—they’re very faint.
On the sides, a lean premixed flame appears as a faint wisp.
Researchers have started to make rough Faraday rotation measurements using LOFAR, but the telescope has trouble picking out the extremely faint signal.
By training computers to recognize such faint rumbles, the scientists were able not only to identify the probable culprit behind the quakes, but also to track how such mysterious swarms can spread through complex fault networks in space and time.
When that faint light hits the other side, it’s already been split apart into its colors.
Her voice was raspy and after answering questions she paused, as if about to faint.
I saw a faint, sweet glimmer of the ferocious protector he once was.
But this time I can plainly hear, through the rush of words, the faint rattle of hysteria that bespeaks a screw loose somewhere.
After about an hour, he hears a faint tapping sound from inside the freezer and opens the door.
A fine book all around, but not a book for the faint of heart.
The faint candle-light glimmered on a ponderous gilded cornice, which had also sustained violence.
It was difficult to describe—a little sterner, a little wilder, a faint emphasis of the barbaric peering through it.
He was looking at me with eyebrows arched, curiously, and there was a faint suggestion of hostility in the set of his mouth.
The cytoplasm of lymphocytes is generally robin's-egg blue; that of the large mononuclears may have a faint bluish tinge.
Wright's stain gives such cells a faint bluish tinge when the condition is mild, and a rather deep blue when severe.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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