faintとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源 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.

形容詞

faint (comparative fainter, superlative faintest)

1. (of a being) Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness

   I felt faint after my fifth gin and tonic.

2. Lacking courage, spirit, or energy; cowardly; dejected
   • 1789, Robert Burns, to Dr. Blacklock

     Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.

3. Barely perceptible; not bright, or loud, or sharp

   There was a faint red light in the distance.

4. Performed, done, or acted, weakly; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy

   faint efforts

   faint resistance

5. Slight; minimal.
   • 2005, Lesley Brown (translator), Plato, Sophist, 243b.

     do you have the faintest understanding of what they mean?

6. (archaic) Sickly, so as to make a person feel faint.
   • 1843, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit:

     Happening to pass a fruiterer’s on their way; the door of which was open, though the shop was by this time shut; one of them remarked how faint the peaches smelled.

派生語

名詞

faint (複数形 faints)

1. The act of fainting, syncope.

   She suffered another faint.

2. (rare) The state of one who has fainted; a swoon.

派生語

• faintful
• faintless
• faintsome

語源 2

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

動詞

faint (三人称単数 現在形 faints, 現在分詞 fainting, 過去形および過去分詞形 fainted)

1. (intransitive) To lose consciousness through a lack of oxygen or nutrients to the brain, usually as a result of suddenly reduced blood flow (may be caused by emotional trauma, loss of blood または various medical conditions).
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 8:8:

     If I send them away fasting […] they will faint by the way.

   • September 22 1713, Richard Steele, The Guardian No. 167

     But upon hearing the Honour which he intended her , she fainted away , and fell down as Dead at his Feet

2. (intransitive) To lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 24:10:

     If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

3. (intransitive) To decay; to disappear; to vanish.
   • November 12, 1711, Alexander Pope, letter to Henry Cromwell

     Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before the eye.

同意語

• (to lose consciousness): pass out, swoon, sweb, black out, keel over
• queal

派生語

• fainting goat

Further reading

• faint in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “faint”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• faint at OneLook Dictionary Search

アナグラム

• Fanti, fitna