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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

... was many inches deep, and as the road was at best but a faint bridle-path that could scarcely be distinguished by day-light from the debris which strewed the ravines, the undertaking would have been utterly hopeless, had not Pierre known that there was the chance of still meeting with some signs of the many mules ...

— The Headsman - The Abbaye des Vignerons • James Fenimore Cooper

... and asking permission to submit the first chapter to his searching inspection. She wrote that she expected him to find faults—he always did; and she preferred that her work should be roughly handled by him, rather than patted and smeared with faint praise by men of inferior ...

— St. Elmo • Augusta J. Evans

... Devonshire pony (Figure 1), with a conspicuous stripe along the back, with light transverse stripes on the under sides of its front legs, and with four parallel stripes on each shoulder. Of these four stripes the posterior one was very minute and faint; the anterior one, on the other hand, was long and broad, but interrupted in the middle, and truncated at its lower extremity, with the anterior angle produced into a long tapering point. I mention this latter fact because the shoulder-stripe ...

— The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication - Volume I • Charles Darwin

... Byrd," Felicity murmured, as Constance in momentary silence sipped her milk, "that you comprehend the first law of decoration for woman—that her accessories must be a frame for her type. I—how should I appear in a room like this?" She gave a faint shrug. "At best, a false tone in a chromatic harmony. You are entirely ...

— The Nest Builder • Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale

... thought it fair to laugh without explaining; the tall, bright-eyed milatraisse; old Agricola; the lady of the basil; the newly identified merchant friend, now the more satisfactory Honore,—they all came before him in his meditation, provoking among themselves a certain discord, faint but persistent, to which he strove to close his ear. For he was brain-weary. Even in the bright recollection of the lady and her talk he became involved among shadows, and going from bad to worse, seemed ...

— The Grandissimes • George Washington Cable

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