faithful
[feyth-fuh l]
- strict or thorough in the performance of duty: a faithful worker.
- true to one's word, promises, vows, etc.
- steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant: faithful friends.
- reliable, trusted, or believed.
- adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate: a faithful account; a faithful copy.
- Obsolete. full of faith; believing.
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- the faithful,
- the believers, especially members of a Christian church or adherents of Islam.
- the body of loyal members of any party or group.
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Origin of faithful
Synonyms
See more synonyms for faithful on Thesaurus.com1, 3. true, devoted, staunch. 3. Faithful, constant, loyal imply qualities of stability, dependability, and devotion. Faithful implies long-continued and steadfast fidelity to whatever one is bound to by a pledge, duty, or obligation: a faithful friend. Constant suggests firmness and steadfastness in attachment: a constant affection. Loyal implies unswerving allegiance to a person, organization, cause, or idea: loyal to one's associates, one's country. 5. precise, exact.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for faithfulness
Contemporary Examples
And this mix of intellectualism and faithfulness is filling an unmet need among students on many of these campuses.
God does not want a house built by man,” he said, “but faithfulness to His word, to His plan.
He goes to his death as a final act of faithfulness to the party for which he committed his own crimes.
Martyrs, Daniel promised, would be rewarded for their faithfulness in a special way.
Martyrs, he promised, would be rewarded for their faithfulness in a special way.
Historical Examples
We should help him to retain their affection and faithfulness.
An Explanation of Luther's Small CatechismJoseph Stump
From your day down to this, the world has been the better for your faithfulness.
The Works of Whittier, Volume VI (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
Faithfulness was the only virtue he required of Hieronymus Andreae.
Albert DurerT. Sturge Moore
But there was his faithfulness, and he went back to be betrayed yet a third time.
White FangJack London
This faithfulness was a quality of the clay that composed him.
White FangJack London
faithful
- having faith; remaining true, constant, or loyal
- maintaining sexual loyalty to one's lover or spouse
- consistently reliablea faithful worker
- reliable or truthfula faithful source
- accurate in detaila faithful translation
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- the faithful
- the believers in and loyal adherents of a religious faith, esp Christianity
- any group of loyal and steadfast followers
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for faithfulness
faithful
adj.
c.1300, "full of faith," also "firm in allegiance," from faith + -ful. Meaning "true to the facts" is from 1520s. The noun sense of "true believers" is from 1550s. Related: Faithfully; faithfulness. Old Faithful geyser named 1870 by explorer Gen. H.D. Washburn, Surveyor-General of the Montana Territory, in reference to the regularity of its outbursts.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper