faint

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a spontaneous loss of consciousness caused by insufficient blood to the brain
  2. verb pass out from weakness, physical or emotional distress due to a loss of blood supply to the brain
  3. adjective deficient in magnitude; barely perceptible; lacking clarity or brightness or loudness etc

Etymology

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

swoon, syncope, deliquium

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