Faust
Americannoun
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Johann c1480–c1538, German magician, alchemist, and astrologer.
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the chief character of a medieval legend, represented as selling his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power.
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(italics) a tragedy by Goethe (Part 1, 1808; Part 2, 1832).
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(italics) an opera (1859) by Charles Gounod.
noun
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A “Faustian” bargain is one in which a person is willing to make extreme sacrifices for power or knowledge without considering the ultimate cost.
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.
Among the new hires were former Walmart officials Mark Ibbotson and Nate Faust to run operations and e-commerce, respectively.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Film and novel are umbilically linked, however, by the basic gambit—a “motiveless” crime committed by strangers and therefore difficult to solve—as well as by a riff on the Faust legend, with Bruno as Mephistopheles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Faust, 36, currently calls Friday Night MLB games streamed on Apple TV+.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2025
Saul Faust, professor of paediatric immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Southampton, said norovirus "placed a huge burden on healthcare systems".
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2024
One morning, when working all the yearlings over two furlongs—a quarter of a mile—in sets of two, he paired Seabiscuit with Faust, the fastest yearling in the barn and a future major stakes winner.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
