fainéant
Americanadjective
noun
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:
Bull, the sixth boy in No. 7, was the only fainéant among them, though he did occasionally help to keep off the smaller fry.
From Eric by Farrar, F. W. (Frederic William)
The Invisible King is not, after all, a roi fainéant.
From God and Mr. Wells A Critical Examination of 'God the Invisible King' by Archer, William
George de Lacorfe, fashionable, fainéant and forty, reader of The Pink 'Un, ardent bachelor, Basker in short, suddenly finds the dukedom of Cheviot thrust upon him.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, January 12, 1916 by Seaman, Owen, Sir
The best answer can be found in the story of the Colony, for the General Assembly, at all events, has never been a fainéant ruler.
From The Long White Cloud by Reeves, William Pember
You call me trifler, fainéant, And bid me give my life an aim!—
From Point Lace and Diamonds by Day, Francis
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
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
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
Bold might the planton be; we were no fainéants.
From The Enormous Room by Cummings, E. E. (Edward Estlin)
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
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.
