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
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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:
A coral nursery is providing a faint glimmer of hope and has even seen the return of plankton-feeding fish.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
Nearly 30 hours of exposure time collected enough light for the team to identify extremely faint absorption features in the spectra of the distant galaxies.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
Treasury yields lower, but there is also “a faint smell of a crisis in the making.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
But it’s not for the faint of heart.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
“I think I would faint if I got near him,” Pepa says with a shiver.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
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
Only after she genuinely faints during a session, rather than perfectly executing the choreographed dramatic swoon, does he relent to a respite at their home in New York.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Hope still has a heartbeat, but that grows fainter by the loss.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Once those jets stop supplying energetic particles to the galaxy's large radio lobes, the particles already inside the lobes gradually lose energy, and the radio emission becomes fainter.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
Saturn will appear nearby, while the much fainter Neptune forms a broad triangle with Saturn and the Moon.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 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
The creatures shuffled off, their voices getting fainter.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Sigmund Freud famously asked, “What does a woman want,” while confessing that he hadn’t the faintest idea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
"I really haven't the faintest idea as to what I've done," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
By the late 1960s, "he wasn't in the faintest a shy person", Kasmin recalled.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
The results revealed how the faintest breeze, just 0.2 meters per second, combined with higher voltage further increased the likelihood of a worm hitting its target.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2025
She felt the faintest dip in the aircraft’s balance as the weight shifted.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Many supporters questioned the decision to play Musiala so soon after he fainted on Saturday.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 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
One 32-year-old Berliner, Diane, told AFP she had fainted from the heat once already, despite drinking three litres of water.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 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
"My father says cold water is the best way to wake up someone who's fainted," he said, and with that he tipped the entire contents of the jug over the Trunchbull's head.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
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
She also experienced very low energy, hair loss, severe dizziness, fainting spells from low blood sugar and brain fog.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 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
“The piggy? Oh, terrible hunger pinches! Gurgi cannot remember. Was there a piggy? Gurgi is fainting and falling into the bushes, his poor, tender head is full of air from his empty belly.”
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
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.
