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faint
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- pronunciation:
- feInt
- parts of speech:
- adjective, verb
- features:
- Homophone Note, Word History, Word Explorer
| part of speech: |
adjective |
| inflections: |
fainter, faintest |
| definition 1: |
When something is faint, it is weak, or there is only a small amount of it. When the music you hear is faint, it means that it is hard to hear or you can only hear it a little. When there is a faint smell, there is only a little bit of a smell. The smell is not strong.
Sometimes when it is cold in the winter, there can be a faint smell of burning wood coming from people's chimneys.The faint ringing of the neighbor's telephone was just loud enough to wake up the dog.- synonyms:
- weak
- antonyms:
- intense, striking, strong
- similar words:
- dim, dull, outside, remote, slight
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| definition 2: |
When you feel faint, you suddenly feel very tired. You may feel dizzy and need to sit or lie down.
Liz felt faint after running five miles, so she sat down and drank some water until she felt better again.- synonyms:
- dizzy, exhausted
- similar words:
- light, weak
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| related words: |
dizzy, fuzzy, low, slender, soft, vague |
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| part of speech: |
verb |
| inflections: |
faints, fainting, fainted |
| definition: |
When a person faints, they suddenly can't stand or sit up, and they look as if they have fallen asleep. A person who faints cannot hear or see anything. Fainting only lasts a short time. People sometimes faint when they experience a shock of some kind.
After standing under the hot sun for too long, Gabriel felt sick and suddenly fainted.The woman fainted because she hadn't eaten anything for two days.In the school play, the poor farmer faints when the king gives him a basket of gold coins.- similar words:
- collapse
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The words faint and feint sound alike but have different meanings. To find out why a basketball player would rather feint than faint on the court, look up feint.
Faint comes from an early French word that means "cowardly" and "lacking in spirit."
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