FAINT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... first mate, was quite fat and bleary-eyed. He used to go about sweating clear through his clothes on warm days. At such times I could detect the faint reek of alcohol coming through his pores. It's a wonder Schantze didn't notice ...

— Tramping on Life - An Autobiographical Narrative • Harry Kemp

... surely she did live and her heart did beat; though, in verity, mine ears did have at first a thundering; but afterward a quietness in them, that made the sounding of her pulsing to seem an utter long way off; and very faint it did be. And surely, in that moment, even as I harked, I was gone over into a deadness, and had no more knowing; neither to have even a knowledge that I did be slipt from my senses. And, behold, the Maid did lie swooning; and I to be there ...

— The Night Land • William Hope Hodgson

... the high starry sky, at the moon, at the comet, and at the glow from the fire, Pierre experienced a joyful emotion. "There now, how good it is, what more does one need?" thought he. And suddenly remembering his intention he grew dizzy and felt so faint that he leaned against the fence to save ...

— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy

... awoke, it was already night; The church was empty, and there was no light, Save where the lamps, that glimmered few and faint, Lighted a little space before some saint. He started from his seat and gazed around, But saw no living thing and heard no sound. He groped towards the door, but it was locked; He cried aloud, and listened, and then ...

— The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... abode all that day till it was night. Then he was faint, and laid him down and slept till it was midnight. Then he awaked, and saw afore him a woman which said unto him right fiercely, "Sir Percivale, abide here, and I shall go fetch you a horse, which shall bear you whither ...

— Stories of King Arthur and His Knights - Retold from Malory's "Morte dArthur" • U. Waldo Cutler

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