faint
Americanadjective
-
fainter,
comparative
-
faintest
superlative
-
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)
-
faints,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fainted,
past participle, past
-
fainting
present participle
-
to lose consciousness temporarily.
-
to lose brightness.
-
Archaic. to grow weak; lose spirit or courage.
noun
-
faints
plural
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 )
-
no 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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
fainternoun
-
faintishnessnoun
-
faintnessnoun
-
overfaintnessnoun
-
faintishadjective
-
overfaintadjective
-
unfaintingadjective
-
faintinglyadverb
-
faintlyadverb
-
overfaintlyadverb
-
unfaintlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
faintsimple
-
faintssimple
-
have faintedperfect
-
has faintedperfect
-
am faintingprogressive
-
are faintingprogressive
-
is faintingprogressive
-
have been faintingperfect progressive
-
has been faintingperfect progressive
Past
-
faintedsimple
-
had faintedperfect
-
was faintingprogressive
-
were faintingprogressive
-
had been faintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of faint
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French: literally, “feigned,” past participle of faindre, feindre “to feign”; see feign
Explanation
Something faint has no courage or vigor. If you suddenly round the corner and see a gang of bullies staring straight at you, chances are you'll feel faint. Faint comes from the French feindre, for being cowardly or shirking duties. We usually use it to mean without great strength. If you faint, you pass out, from low blood supply to your brain. If you feel faint, you feel weak. Faint also means dim or vague. If you're staring out to sea, you might see the faint outline of an approaching ship. If you really can't remember the answer to something, say you "haven't the faintest idea."
Vocabulary lists containing faint
Unit 1: Telling Details
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Commonly Confused Words, List 1
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 4
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After the mooring lines were dropped, passengers and crew heard a faint bang and felt a shudder deep within the airship, which was at that point well more than 100 feet in the air.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Yet the faint object in the Elias 2-24 system sits about 55 times farther from its star than Earth is from the Sun and was already showing signs of being a forming planet.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
Ten years ago Alec Palao was casually flicking through a collection of old records when he noticed some faint pencil markings that were enough to draw a gasp.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Being an executor is not a job for the faint of heart, but payable- and transfer-on-death deeds certainly simplify matters.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Boomer said Mrs. Preston fainted when Eugene got to forty-five walnuts, but she didn’t really faint.
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
Yasser regularly faints when she tries to stand.
From Barron's ● Mar. 22, 2026
When Louise, angling for attention, participates in her church’s Inner Beauty pageant, her talent is holding her breath until she faints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026
O’Sullivan determined that Darcie was suffering psychosomatic seizures and faints, very real but not caused by a physical problem.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
Rashford faints to shoot and goalie and defenders watching two players.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2023
Everybody knows that I’m the girl who’s really shy and practically faints at the sight of a boy.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
A coronagraph blocks much of a star's bright light, making it easier to search for much fainter objects nearby.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
To spot S301 -- which is two billion times fainter than the star Betelgeuse in our sky -- the team of astronomers used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in the Chilean desert.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Light pollution will hide the fainter meteors, leaving only the brightest ones visible.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
As brands go through creative directors like tissues, the connection to what made a house beloved seems to get fainter and fainter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Every once in a while I look back, and each time the lighthouse beacon gets smaller and fainter.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
Like hundreds of volunteers and rescuers, he has spent hours clinging to the faintest hope there may be survivors in the rubble, despite the 7.4 magnitude quake that struck this coffee capital on Monday morning.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
K2-18b may be silent for now, but scientists are steadily improving their ability to detect even the faintest signs of technology beyond our solar system if they are ever there to be heard.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Is there the faintest suggestion in the room that, if you do this, you won’t get older?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2025
Even the faintest irritation, say a restaurant chain tinkering with its logo, can summon thousands to the same digital square.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2025
At the landing on the stairs was a tall palladian window and the faintest shape of it headlong on the stairwell wall in the day’s last light.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
At the end of July, he fainted during a court hearing and was treated in intensive care.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
I learned about chocolatines last year from the Journal’s Joshua Robinson, who fainted from embarrassment when I walked into a Toulouse patisserie and ordered a “chocolatini,” like it was happy hour at an airport Chili’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
When Charlotte Dron gave birth to her second child Luca in 2018, there was so much blood that a nurse fainted and "midwives were shouting at each other".
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
The “Messy” hitmaker told Rolling Stone in a recent interview that she was grateful that she fainted onstage late last year, and framed the scary ordeal as a wake-up call.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2026
I was so scared I nearly fainted at the thought of this total stranger managing to discover our wonderful hiding place.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
There is no evidence that Xi is gravely ill or that he had a stroke or fainting spell, as rumored across social media this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
A majority -- 87 percent -- of respondents reported at least one health-related impact during the sweltering week, including disrupted sleep, tiredness at work as well as dizziness, fainting and a faster heartbeat.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
For all its immortal ideas and all those outsized news reports of people fainting, “The Exorcist” could’ve faded from memory if so much of what came after didn’t prove to be a cheap imitation.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
As it worsens, however, it can lead to fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting, heart failure, and in some cases premature death.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026
I’ve forgotten about fainting and about the stacks of plates, and about falling into the creek and also about seeing the Virgin Mary.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
