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:
Accomplished antiquarians and “commissioners” assisted him in his labours; but he was no roi fainéant on the editorial sofa which he so complacently describes.
From Dickens English Men of Letters by Sir Adolphus William Ward
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 Hibberd V. B. (Hibberd Van Buren) Kline
Doubtless the fainéant condition of nearly all the daimyōs at this time made the accomplishment of this event more easy.
From Japan by David Murray
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 F. W. (Frederic William) Farrar
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 F. W. (Frederic William) Farrar
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 John Ruskin
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
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
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.
