From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfaintfaint1 /feɪnt/ ●●○ adjective 1 CLEAR/EASY TO SEESTRONG TASTE OR SMELLdifficult to see, hear, smell etc She gave a faint smile. a very faint noise the faint light of dawn► see thesaurus at quiet2 → a faint hope/possibility/chance etc3 → not have the faintest idea4 WEAKfeeling weak and as if you are about to become unconscious because you are very ill, tired, or hungry The heat made him feel quite faint.faint with I was faint with hunger. —faintly adverb Everyone looked faintly surprised. The sun shone faintly through the clouds. —faintness noun [uncountable] → damn somebody/something with faint praise at damn4(6)
Examples from the Corpus
faint• The men went away, and we could hear their voices get fainter and fainter.• For a moment she looked quite faint, but with a great effort she stood her ground.• Before she got there, however, there was a faint cracking from the surrounding darkness.• Then Freitag made a faint gesture to his partner, who put away his pen and notebook.• Immediately four faint, narrow lines appeared, bracketing a tiny and undistinguished star.• We heard a faint noise coming from the room.• I could just make out the faint outline of the cliffs.• On the wall you could see the faint outline of where a picture had once hung.• M56 is not at all prominent, but shows up as a faint patch of light.• There were a few faint pencil lines on the page.• He could not resist a faint smile creeping over his face.• There was silence for a moment as they held each other's eyes, broken only by the faint sound of dance music from down below.• Jean opened the window, and heard the faint sound of the bells drifting across the Old Town.• A second set of shadows appeared; at first long and faint, they shortened and sharpened rapidly.• Far down the inverted telescope he saw the faint white figure of May Welland-in New York.faint light• He knew he was quite safe, yet he felt increasingly tense as he ascended the steep path in the faint light.• In the distance I could see a faint light, and I decided to try to reach it.• A street lamp threw faint light and out of it came a young woman.• Standing all day on the wet clay floor under the dropping ceiling in the faint light cast by tallow candles was grim.• I inspected the room in the faint light coming in around the shutters.• A faint light now appears behind the beaded curtain of one of the houses that face the courtyard.• In the faint light of what is left of day, she can barely make out the road ahead.• A laser transmitted faint light signals to an electronic detector.feel ... faint• He was starting to feel faint.• One Saturday, in September 1995, my pulse races, I get dizzy, and feel faint.• She should not be embarrassed or alarmed if she feels faint.• She stopped using the drugs in January when she suddenly passed out and began feeling faint and weak.• She was already feeling faint, as much from the stale heat of the attic room as for any other reason.• I saw her often just lying down in the afternoons because she felt faint from hunger.• She felt faint when she thought how near she had come to disaster.• Resting there, in the protection of the mighty canopy, was an object which made him feel faint with fear.faintfaint2 ●●○ verb [intransitive] 1 MI_UNCONSCIOUSto suddenly become unconscious for a short time SYN pass out Several fans fainted in the blazing heat.2 → I nearly/almost fainted→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
faint• Just went around in my wrapper all the livelong day, my mama would faint.• I need to go outside. I feel as if I'm going to faint.• It was hot and crowded, and several people fainted.• Flatch replied, determined not to faint.• I must have fainted, and when I came to I didn't know where I was.• He wondered whether he might not faint away.• My grandmother continued to have fainting fits and hysterical fits.• Almost fainting from lack of air, she could only answer in choked gasps.• One of the soldiers guarding the palace fainted in the heat.• Hyperventilation and Anxiety Symptoms Symptoms of a panic attack initiated by adrenalin can never cause us to faint or be sick.• Hi, Robyn, Don't faint with shock, but I felt like writing you a letter!faintfaint3 noun [singular] MIUNCONSCIOUSan act of becoming unconsciousin a (dead) faint She fell down in a faint.Examples from the Corpus
faint• In the eighth round, she faced syncope, which means a faint or swoon.in a (dead) faint• When the chanting stops they fall back in a faint.• David collapsed to the carpet in a faint.• He whirled around at Leif's horrified cry and the bump as the maid fell in a dead faint to the floor.• She slipped forward out of the chair and hit the floor in a dead faint.• As she did so, the colourless lips moved in a faint moan.• Mostly black on black, its central diamond is traced in faint gold and barely visible.• So he made me pretend I was in a dead faint.Origin faint1 (1200-1300) Old French faindre, feindre “to pretend”; → FEIGN 