Faustian bargain
CulturalExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Other versions of the Faustian bargain tale end in regret; in this one, Johnson is content with his choice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 9, 2025
Still, other projects may conjure comparisons to the story of Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband, Guy, a man who is easily duped into a Faustian bargain thanks to his single-mindedness and inferiority complex.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 2023
This Faustian bargain is the bread and butter of the tech industry: You receive ostensibly “free” services in exchange for your data.
From Slate • Nov. 25, 2022
It’s a clever parody of the Faustian bargain we’ve made with social media, relinquishing our privacy for access to the comments, likes and images of others.
From Washington Post • Mar. 29, 2022
The Faustian bargain between humans and grains was not the only deal our species made.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
