FAINT • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Faint

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adjective

Faint adj. (compar. fainter; superl. faintest)

Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to swoon; as, faint with fatigue, hunger, or thirst.

Wanting in courage, spirit, or energy; timorous; cowardly; dejected; depressed; as, "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady."

Lacking distinctness; hardly perceptible; striking the senses feebly; not bright, or loud, or sharp, or forcible; weak; as, a faint color, or sound.

Performed, done, or acted, in a weak or feeble manner; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy; slight; as, faint efforts; faint resistance. "The faint prosecution of the war."

verb

Faint v. t. To cause to faint or become dispirited; to depress; to weaken. (Obs.) "It faints me to think what follows."

Faint v. i. (past & past part. fainted; pres. part. fainting)

To become weak or wanting in vigor; to grow feeble; to lose strength and color, and the control of the bodily or mental functions; to swoon; sometimes with away. See Fainting, n. "Hearing the honor intended her, she fainted away." "If I send them away fasting... they will faint by the way."

To sink into dejection; to lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent. "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small."

To decay; to disappear; to vanish. "Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before the eye."

noun

Faint n. The act of fainting, or the state of one who has fainted; a swoon. (R.) See Fainting, n. "The saint, Who propped the Virgin in her faint."

See images of 'Faint'

Etymology of 'Faint'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Faint" Quotes from Famous Books

... They heard only the faint rushing of the air through the window. The flame danced in the chimney of the lamp and changed the faces in phantastic alteration. One and all, they turned and faced the window. Still there was not a sound audible, but the doctor ...

— The Night Horseman • Max Brand

... faint and fearful shores Of time are beaten by the surge of sense, Love worn away - by love? - to indifference. Who knows what god - or demon - she adores? Or in what wood she shelters, or what grove Sees her ...

— Household Gods • Aleister Crowley

... "exceedingly glad," although it would naturally be thought that the booth would afford ample protection. He, however, soon found himself sold; for the Lord prepared a worm to destroy the gourd, and when the sun arose he sent "a vehement east wind" which beat upon poor Jonah's head, and made him so faint that he once more asked God to despatch him out of his misery. Whereupon the Lord said coaxingly, "Doest thou well to be angry?" And Jonah pettishly answered, "Yes, I do." Then the Lord, with a wonderful access of pathos, altogether ...

— Bible Romances - First Series • George W. Foote

... succession. Acting purely on the defensive, the latter parried the onslaught with an ease that puzzled and angered his opponent, until incautiously he fell into the trap by redoubling his attack. Helmar had reckoned on this. He hoped soon to tire the bully out, and a faint smile passed over his face, as with a head parry he stayed a terrific ...

— Under the Rebel's Reign • Charles Neufeld

... his History of English Poetry, (iv. 74.) has given, with some trifling errors, a transcript of the title, and says he has a faint remembrance of a Collection of Epigrams, by the author, printed about 1599: these I have never been fortunate enough to meet with, nor do they appear in the collections of Ames or Herbert, neither of whom had seen a copy of the ...

— Microcosmography - or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters • John Earle

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