fainéant
Americanadjective
noun
-
fainéants
plural
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fainéant
First recorded in 1610–20; from French, earlier fait-nient, literally, “he does nothing,” folk etymology of Old French faignant “idler,” noun use of present participle of se faindre “to shirk ”; see feign, faint
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:
And whereas Sieyès condemned his grand functionary to the repose of a roi fainéant, Bonaparte secured to him practically all the powers assigned by Sieyès to the Consuls for Peace and for War.
From The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2) by John Holland Rose
Even after Tullia was dead the Republic had come again for him, and something might be done to stir up these fainéant nobles!
From The Life of Cicero Volume II. by Anthony Trollope
How many years has he been a roi fainéant?
From The Lily and the Cross A Tale of Acadia by James De Mille
Another example is Arthur, in some romances "the blameless king," in others un roi fainéant.
From Homer and His Age by Andrew Lang
Let me tell you, Lady Glencora, that a fainéant government is not the worst government that England can have.
From Phineas Finn The Irish Member by Anthony Trollope
Others are weaklings, fainéants; but one, the most dread woman in Frankish history, Fredegonda, the queen of Chilperic, towers above all in this masque of slaughter and treachery.
From Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine by Lewis Spence
Bold might the planton be; we were no fainéants.
From The Enormous Room by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings
She extols them both, and makes over to their joint care and tuition the fainéants aforesaid.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845 by Various
After Dagobert's death these mayors practically ruled in the place of the Merovingian monarchs, who became mere "do-nothing kings,"—rois fainéants, as the French call them.
From An Introduction to the History of Western Europe by James Harvey Robinson
Any quantity of heraldries of knaves and fainéants you may find in what they call their 'history': but this is probably the first time you ever read the name of Robert of Luzarches.
From Our Fathers Have Told Us Part I. The Bible of Amiens by John Ruskin
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.
