Faint

faint
    adj 1: deficient in magnitude; barely perceptible; lacking
           clarity or brightness or loudness etc; "a faint outline";
           "the wan sun cast faint shadows"; "the faint light of a
           distant candle"; "weak colors"; "a faint hissing sound";
           "a faint aroma"; "a weak pulse" [syn: {faint}, {weak}]
    2: lacking clarity or distinctness; "a dim figure in the
       distance"; "only a faint recollection"; "shadowy figures in
       the gloom"; "saw a vague outline of a building through the
       fog"; "a few wispy memories of childhood" [syn: {dim},
       {faint}, {shadowy}, {vague}, {wispy}]
    3: lacking strength or vigor; "damning with faint praise";
       "faint resistance"; "feeble efforts"; "a feeble voice" [syn:
       {faint}, {feeble}]
    4: weak and likely to lose consciousness; "suddenly felt faint
       from the pain"; "was sick and faint from hunger"; "felt light
       in the head"; "a swooning fit"; "light-headed with wine";
       "light-headed from lack of sleep" [syn: {faint}, {light},
       {swooning}, {light-headed}, {lightheaded}]
    5: indistinctly understood or felt or perceived; "a faint clue
       to the origin of the mystery"; "haven't the faintest idea"
    6: lacking conviction or boldness or courage; "faint heart ne'er
       won fair lady" [syn: {faint}, {fainthearted}, {timid},
       {faint-hearted}]
    n 1: a spontaneous loss of consciousness caused by insufficient
         blood to the brain [syn: {faint}, {swoon}, {syncope},
         {deliquium}]
    v 1: pass out from weakness, physical or emotional distress due
         to a loss of blood supply to the brain [syn: {faint},
         {conk}, {swoon}, {pass out}]
    

Faint \Faint\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fainted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Fainting}.]
   1. To become weak or wanting in vigor; to grow feeble; to
      lose strength and color, and the control of the bodily or
      mental functions; to swoon; -- sometimes with away. See
      {Fainting}, n.
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            Hearing the honor intended her, she fainted away.
                                                  --Guardian.
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            If I send them away fasting . . . they will faint by
            the way.                              --Mark viii.
                                                  8.
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   2. To sink into dejection; to lose courage or spirit; to
      become depressed or despondent.
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            If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength
            is small.                             --Prov. xxiv.
                                                  10.
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   3. To decay; to disappear; to vanish.
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            Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before
            the eye.                              --Pope.
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Faint \Faint\ (f[=a]nt), a. [Compar. {Fainter} (-[~e]r); superl.
   {Faintest}.] [OE. feint, faint, false, faint, F. feint, p. p.
   of feindre to feign, suppose, hesitate. See {Feign}, and cf.
   {Feint}.]
   1. Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to swoon; as,
      faint with fatigue, hunger, or thirst.
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   2. Wanting in courage, spirit, or energy; timorous; cowardly;
      dejected; depressed; as, "Faint heart ne'er won fair
      lady." --Old Proverb.
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   3. Lacking distinctness; hardly perceptible; striking the
      senses feebly; not bright, or loud, or sharp, or forcible;
      weak; as, a faint color, or sound.
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   4. Performed, done, or acted, in a weak or feeble manner; not
      exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy; slight; as, faint
      efforts; faint resistance.
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            The faint prosecution of the war.     --Sir J.
                                                  Davies.
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Faint \Faint\, n.
   The act of fainting, or the state of one who has fainted; a
   swoon. [R.] See {Fainting}, n.
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         The saint,
         Who propped the Virgin in her faint.     --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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Faint \Faint\, v. t.
   To cause to faint or become dispirited; to depress; to
   weaken. [Obs.]
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         It faints me to think what follows.      --Shak.
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317 Moby Thesaurus words for "faint":
      KO, abulic, achromatic, achromic, afraid, ailing, anemic, ashen,
      ashy, asthenic, bad, balmy, barely audible, below par, black out,
      blackout, bland, blear, bleared, bleary, bled white, bloodless,
      blow, blurred, blurry, break, break down, burn out, cadaverous,
      catalepsy, catatonia, catatony, cave in, chicken, chloranemic,
      collapse, colorless, coma, come apart, come unstuck, confused,
      conk out, cowardly, crack up, crap out, critically ill, crumble,
      dark, dead, deadly pale, deathly pale, debilitated, decline,
      decrescendo, dim, dimmed, dingy, discolored, disintegrate, distant,
      dizziness, dizzy, down, droop, drooping, droopy, drop, dull, dusty,
      effete, enervated, enfeebled, etiolated, exsanguinated, exsanguine,
      exsanguineous, fade, faded, fagged, fail, faint-voiced,
      fainthearted, fainting, faintish, fall senseless, fallow,
      faltering, fatigue, fatigued, feeble, feebleminded, feeling awful,
      feeling faint, feeling something terrible, filmy, fizzle out,
      flabby, flaccid, flag, flagging, flat, flickering, floppy, foggy,
      footsore, frail, frazzled, fuzzy, gasp, gentle, get tired, ghastly,
      giddy, give out, give way, go downhill, go soft, go to pieces,
      gone, good and tired, gray, gray out, grayout, grow weary, gutless,
      haggard, half-heard, half-seen, half-visible, hazy, hit the skids,
      hueless, hushed, hypochromic, ill, ill-defined, imbecile,
      imperceptible, impotent, in danger, inaudible, inconspicuous,
      indefinite, indiscernible, indisposed, indistinct,
      indistinguishable, infirm, invertebrate, jade, jaded, kayo,
      keel over, knockout, lackluster, laid low, languid, languish,
      languorous, leaden, lenient, light-headed, limber, limp,
      lipothymia, lipothymy, listless, livid, low, low-profile, lurid,
      lusterless, lustless, marrowless, mat, mealy, merely glimpsed,
      mild, misty, mortally ill, muddy, muffled, murmured, muted, muzzy,
      nerveless, neutral, nirvana, nirvana principle, not quite right,
      nothingness, oblivion, obliviousness, obscure, off-color,
      out of focus, out of sorts, pale, pale as death, pale-faced,
      pallid, pant, pass out, pasty, peg out, peter out, pianissimo,
      piano, pine, pithless, play out, pliable, poop out, pooped,
      powerless, puff, puff and blow, ready to drop, rocky, rubbery,
      run down, run out, run ragged, run-down, sagging, sallow, sapless,
      scarcely heard, seedy, semiconsciousness, semivisible,
      senselessness, shadowy, sick, sick unto death, sickish, sickly,
      sinewless, sink, slack, sleep, slight, small, smooth, soft,
      soft-sounding, soft-voiced, spineless, stifled, strengthless,
      stupor, subaudible, subdued, succumb, swim, swoon, syncope,
      taken ill, tallow-faced, thin, tire, tired, tired-winged, toilworn,
      toneless, uncertain, unclear, uncolored, unconsciousness,
      undefined, under the weather, undetermined, unhardened, unnerved,
      unplain, unrecognizable, unrefreshed, unrestored, unsteady,
      unstrung, unwell, vague, vertiginous, vertigo, wan, washed-out,
      wavering, waxen, way-weary, wayworn, weak, weak-kneed, weak-minded,
      weak-voiced, weak-willed, weaken, weakened, weakly, wear away,
      wear thin, wearied, weariful, weary, weary-footed, weary-laden,
      weary-winged, weary-worn, wheeze, whey-faced, whispered, white,
      wilt, wilting, woozy, worn, worn-down, yield