ENGLISH
REFERENCE

faint

adj.
B1 Intermediate US //ˈfeɪnt// UK //fˈeɪnt// faint Archaic

adj. describes something that is very light, quiet, or difficult to see or hear.

adj. lacking brightness, vividness, or clarity; barely perceptible to the senses.


SIMPLE

I can hear a faint noise coming from the basement.

CONTEXTUAL

There was a faint smell of perfume in the hallway, suggesting someone had recently walked through.

COMPLEX

The hikers could just make out the faint outline of the distant peaks through the thick morning mist, though the trail itself remained hidden.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

From Middle English faynt, feynt (“weak; feeble”), from Old French faint, feint (“feigned; negligent; sluggish”), past participle of feindre, faindre (“to feign; sham; work negligently”), from Latin fingere (“to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in thought, imagine, conceive, contrive, devise, feign”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold”). Cognate with feign and fiction and more distantly dough.

Etymology 2

From Middle English fainten, feynten, from the adjective (see above).

Usage

Typically placed before the noun it modifies or after a linking verb like 'be' or 'become'.

Pitfall

The heat fainted him.The heat made him faint.Faint is intransitive; you cannot 'faint' someone else. Use 'make' or 'cause' to describe the trigger.

Idioms2 entries

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