I. faint 1 /feɪnt/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: faindre , feindre 'to pretend' ; ⇨ ↑ feign ]
1 . difficult to see, hear, smell etc:
She gave a faint smile.
a very faint noise
the faint light of dawn
2 . a faint hope/possibility/chance etc a very small or slight hope etc:
a faint hope that they might be alive
3 . not have the faintest idea to not know anything at all about something:
I don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about.
4 . feeling 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 ↑ damn 4 (6)
• • •
THESAURUS
■ a quiet sound or voice
▪ quiet not making a loud sound:
I heard a quiet voice behind me.
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a car with a quiet engine
▪ low quiet – especially because you do not want people to hear or be disturbed:
Doug was on the phone, speaking in a low voice.
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I turned the volume down low.
▪ soft quiet and pleasant to listen to:
Soft music was playing in the background.
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His voice was soft and gentle.
▪ silent not making any sound at all:
a silent prayer
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silent laughter
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The machines were virtually silent.
▪ hushed deliberately quiet because you do not want people to hear – used about people’s voices:
They were talking about money in hushed tones.
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The doctor’s voice was hushed and urgent.
▪ faint quiet and difficult to hear because it comes from a long way away:
The men went ahead and their voices got fainter and fainter.
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the faint sound of bells
▪ muffled difficult to hear, for example because the sound comes from another room or someone’s mouth is covered by something:
Muffled voices were coming from downstairs.
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the muffled sound of someone crying
▪ dull [only before noun] a dull sound is not loud – used especially about the sound of something hitting another thing:
He hit the ground with a dull thud.
▪ inaudible too quiet to hear:
The sound is inaudible to the human ear.
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Her answer came in an almost inaudible whisper.
II. faint 2 BrE AmE verb [intransitive]
1 . to suddenly become unconscious for a short time SYN pass out :
Several fans fainted in the blazing heat.
2 . I nearly/almost fainted spoken used to say that you were very surprised by something:
I nearly fainted when they told me the price.
III. faint 3 BrE AmE noun [singular]
an act of becoming unconscious
in a (dead) faint
She fell down in a faint.