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• faith
  faith

  noun

  confidence or trust in a person or thing.
• Faith
  Faith

  noun

  a female given name.

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faith

¹ American  

[feyth] / feɪθ /

noun

• faiths
  plural

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing.

   faith in another's ability.

2. belief that is not based on proof.

   He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion.

   the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc..

   to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

5. a system of religious belief.

   the Christian faith;

   the Jewish faith.

6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc..

   Failure to appear would be breaking faith.

7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc..

   He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.

8. Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

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idioms

1. in faith, in truth; indeed.

   In faith, he is a fine lad.

Faith ² American  

[feyth] / feɪθ /

noun

1. a female given name.

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faith British  

/ feɪθ /

noun

1. strong or unshakeable belief in something, esp without proof or evidence

2. a specific system of religious beliefs

   the Jewish faith

3. Christianity trust in God and in his actions and promises

4. a conviction of the truth of certain doctrines of religion, esp when this is not based on reason

5. complete confidence or trust in a person, remedy, etc

6. any set of firmly held principles or beliefs

7. allegiance or loyalty, as to a person or cause (esp in the phrases keep faith , break faith )

8. insincerity or dishonesty

9. honesty or sincerity, as of intention in business (esp in the phrase in good faith )

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interjection

1. archaic indeed; really (also in the phrases by my faith , in faith )

faith More Idioms  

1. see act of faith; in bad (good) faith; leap of faith; on faith; pin one's hopes (faith) on.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• multifaith
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• faiths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of faith

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English feith, from Anglo-French fed, Old French feid, feit, from Latin fidem, accusative of fidēs “trust,” derivative of fīdere “to trust”; see confide

Explanation

When you have faith, you trust or believe in something very strongly. Some people have faith in a higher being, others put their faith behind the Red Sox. This noun comes from the Old French word feid, meaning “faith, belief, trust, confidence, pledge.” It's often used when describing religion or the supernatural: people have faith in God, or actually refer to the religion they practice as their faith. Some choose to have the same amount of faith in a good friend or a well written recipe — anything that will come through for them in a time of need.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

faith Faith faiths

“I have a lot of faith that the sheer force of my will will have some of these things happen,” Brodeur, 58, said in an April interview.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

She showed that holding onto faith, patriotism and the American way of life doesn’t mean you can’t also hold space for LGBTQ+ people to live their own happy lives.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

"Family, faith and doing good in the community where we live and work" have been key commitments that Parton and her partners have strived for over the past four decades, he told AFP.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

That community leaders and representatives of the business and faith communities will feel included in the decisions.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

And neither was I. I had never had Nollie’s bravery—no, nor her faith either.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

"My good Samaritan," Harp said when she appeared on stage with Trump at a "Faith and Freedom Coalition" meeting in 2018.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

“The fight is vicious,” he told the Faith & Freedom Coalition crowd after encouraging them to pray for him and the future of the country.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026

In an email, Show Faith by Works founder Chad Schnitger said the group had since gone in a different direction and the budget has mostly gone to build a mobile museum with bespoke video.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

Emails showed that despite her face-to-face meeting with Faith Kates, the agency founder had in fact rejected her a year earlier.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

“Very good, very good,” he says, “I have faith in you, Seaman Bosch. Faith that you’ll do the right thing when a thing is right to do.”

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

This includes excluding other major faiths including Judaism, one of the foundational belief systems of the traditional Christian faith.

From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026

Somerville said Scotland had a long history of welcoming people of all nationalities and faiths, including those seeking refuge and asylum from war and persecution.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

Why should freedom favor proselytizing faiths over those that don’t seek converts?

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

Since the country’s bicentennial, historians of American religion have stressed the nation’s diversity of faiths.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026

He had scrimped and saved enough money to build a home for elderly Jews in Hilversum—for the elderly of all faiths, in fact, for Willem was against any system of segregation.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

• church
• conviction
• denomination
• doctrine
• principle
• religion
• sect
• teaching