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:
To be a fainéant ruler was in direct antagonism both to his conscience and his predilections.
From The Prime Minister by Trollope, Anthony
Doubtless the fainéant condition of nearly all the daimyōs at this time made the accomplishment of this event more easy.
From Japan by Murray, David
The situation was that in which the fainéant king accepts the act of the mayor of the palace because it is Hobson’s choice.
From The Dust Flower by Kline, Hibberd V. B. (Hibberd Van Buren)
The lord no doubt was a fool, and filled the most foolish place in the world,—that of a silly fainéant earl.
From The Landleaguers by Trollope, Anthony
Ball, the sixth boy in Number 7, was the only fainéant among them, though he did occasionally help to keep off the smaller fry.
From Eric, or Little by Little by Farrar, F. W. (Frederic William)
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 Robinson, James Harvey
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
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 Ruskin, John
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 Spence, Lewis
Bold might the planton be; we were no fainéants.
From The Enormous Room by Cummings, E. E. (Edward Estlin)
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.
