I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a dizzy/fainting spell (= one when you feel unable to stand steadily and your head feels unclear )
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She must have had a dizzy spell and fallen.
a faint/soft click (= not loud )
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There was only a faint click from the gun's trigger mechanism.
a light/slight/faint breeze
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The curtains lifted in the light breeze.
a little/faint/slight smile
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She gave him an apologetic little smile.
a remote/faint possibility (= something that is not very likely )
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There's no point worrying about such a remote possibility.
a slight/faint accent
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He has a very slight accent.
a slight/faint resemblance (= not strong )
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Don't you think she has a slight resemblance to that blonde singer in Abba?
damn (sb/sth) with faint praise (= show that you think someone or something is not good by only praising them a little )
faint praise (= comments that seem to praise someone, but in a way that does not really give them much praise )
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He wins faint praise as ‘the only candidate with a grain of sense’.
faint
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the faint perfume of a spring woodland
faint (= not strong )
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I noticed a faint smell of perfume.
faint
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The star is faint but visible.
faint/soft (= not loud )
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The sound was so faint I wasn’t sure what it was at first.
mild/faint amusement
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Daniel looked at her with mild amusement.
not have the faintest/foggiest notion (= not know or understand something at all )
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He had not the foggiest notion how far he might have to walk.
weak/faint
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The boy's pulse was very weak.
weak/faint
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The signals were too weak for the receiver to pick up.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
echo
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The exalted status of peers such as the Duke of Norfolk is a faint echo of this power in the land.
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There was the faint echo of voices rolling up to the highest balcony seats.
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From somewhere far-off in the building, he could hear a faint echo of the nurses' choir.
glimmer
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He looked across the sea: a faint glimmer of pale light was rising in the midnight-blue sky.
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On her face appeared the faint glimmer of a smile.
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There was a faint glimmer of light from her window; it was from the night-light which she kept burning.
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But through the murk there was a faint glimmer of light.
glow
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A few emergency circuits gave off a faint glow .
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When I saw the faint glow of light in the distance, it scarcely registered with me.
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The lamp beside his bed threw a faint glow over his swollen, passionate, tormented face.
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When the first faint glow of dawn crept into the cave, Moon-Watcher saw that his father had died in the night.
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A faint glow came through an opaque window which must belong to one of the cloakrooms.
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The faint glow of a match shone through the door from the house.
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The door was locked, the room unlit but for the faint glow of a small screen to one side of the desk.
hope
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The faint hope he had offered shrivelled and died in the heat of the hungry, leaping flames.
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The last faint hope that there had been some mistake died.
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The former Chelsea man duly obliged with two headers to keep alive Rangers' faint hopes of a title challenge.
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The shares had just started to recover on faint hopes of a busy festive season.
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His heart sank, his faint hope of creating an opportunity to escape crushed.
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Fabia returned to her room, but her faint hopes were already getting fainter.
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I thought about letting it ring, but there was a faint hope that it might be Sally.
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That uncertainty urges us to look beyond the present, with a faint hope to control our future.
light
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Standing all day on the wet clay floor under the dropping ceiling in the faint light cast by tallow candles was grim.
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A laser transmitted faint light signals to an electronic detector.
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In the distance I could see a faint light , and I decided to try to reach it.
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A faint light now appears behind the beaded curtain of one of the houses that face the courtyard.
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I inspected the room in the faint light coming in around the shutters.
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In the faint light of what is left of day, she can barely make out the road ahead.
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He knew he was quite safe, yet he felt increasingly tense as he ascended the steep path in the faint light .
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A street lamp threw faint light and out of it came a young woman.
possibility
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There remained a faint possibility that Newley would try to identify the person who collected the money.
praise
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At the product's launch, the company took time out to damn 3Com's boundary routing scheme with faint praise .
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With these words of faint praise , Maskelyne tactfully conceded a few major flaws in the lunar distance method.
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If that seems like faint praise , you should read the dozen most recent books on Paradise Lost.
scent
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On my hands and knees and with my eyes shut, I could smell their faint scent .
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There was a faint scent of ammonia in the air.
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Standing so close, she was aware of a faint scent of expensive aftershave, and his shirt had felt like silk.
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The faint scent of essential oils fills the air.
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A faint scent of tobacco and fish lingered, even though one of the windows had been opened.
smell
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In my bed is a faint smell of excrement.
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There was a faint smell of hay in my room, even in that weather, even with the windows closed.
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A faint smell of frying bacon drifted up from the kitchen.
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As the steam drifted toward him, it seemed to bring with it a faint smell of meat.
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He detected the faint smell of blood just before the familiar but oddly stagnant odor of Jinju came rushing toward him.
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A faint smell of cooking emerged from the kitchen.
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Something somewhere in here may be rotting; there is a faint smell .
smile
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Her head was lowered in obedience, but there was a faint smile on her cherry lips.
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The appraiser shut the bathroom door, and everyone looked around with faint smiles .
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He exhaled sharply and managed a faint smile .
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A faint smile eased her heavy mouth.
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He could not resist a faint smile creeping over his face.
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Hannah nodded her head again, a faint smile creeping across her face.
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She found the make-up room and went in, a faint smile playing about her lips as she looked round.
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Lee went out the north door, a faint smile on his face.
sound
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And the faint sound of movement from below told her she was not the only one.
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Finally we heard a faint sound in the distance and scrambled into the woods.
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As he reached out for the cheese, he heard a faint sound behind him ... Anthea?
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The faint sound of his cello, as I lay tucked up in bed, is woven into my childhood memories.
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He couldn't even hear faint sounds from the next apartment without his imagination putting together some unwholesome scene of matching action.
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Sure enough, not long afterwards she heard the first faint sounds of pursuit.
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And then his ears caught a faint sound .
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A faint sound from below caught her ear.
trace
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There are faint traces of tyre on the road, but no serious skidding.
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Actually there is a faint trace of saccharine here.
voice
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She had just pressed it a second time when she heard a faint voice above the High Street traffic.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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I could just make out the faint outline of the cliffs.
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Jean opened the window, and heard the faint sound of the bells drifting across the Old Town.
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On the wall you could see the faint outline of where a picture had once hung.
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The men went away, and we could hear their voices get fainter and fainter.
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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.
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There were a few faint pencil lines on the page.
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We heard a faint noise coming from the room.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A second set of shadows appeared; at first long and faint , they shortened and sharpened rapidly.
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Before she got there, however, there was a faint cracking from the surrounding darkness.
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Far down the inverted telescope he saw the faint white figure of May Welland-in New York.
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For a moment she looked quite faint , but with a great effort she stood her ground.
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He could not resist a faint smile creeping over his face.
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Immediately four faint , narrow lines appeared, bracketing a tiny and undistinguished star.
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M56 is not at all prominent, but shows up as a faint patch of light.
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Then Freitag made a faint gesture to his partner, who put away his pen and notebook.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
almost
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Almost fainting from lack of air, she could only answer in choked gasps.
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When he stood up, he almost fainted .
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She was still feeling dizzy and sick, and felt very annoyed at herself for almost fainting in Caroline's flat.
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Ronni almost fainted as she imagined she could feel the beat of his heart.
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He might need it, his eye; that first view, an almighty fright, he had almost fainted .
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Clare almost fainted from surprise and anxiety, horror and shame.
nearly
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These were removed and - oh, sweet Lord, I nearly fainted !
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Why had she nearly fainted when I had told her about the letter?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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I must have fainted, and when I came to I didn't know where I was.
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I need to go outside. I feel as if I'm going to faint .
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It was hot and crowded, and several people fainted.
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One of the soldiers guarding the palace fainted in the heat.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Almost fainting from lack of air, she could only answer in choked gasps.
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Flatch replied, determined not to faint .
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He wondered whether he might not faint away.
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Hi, Robyn, Don't faint with shock, but I felt like writing you a letter!
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Hyperventilation and Anxiety Symptoms Symptoms of a panic attack initiated by adrenalin can never cause us to faint or be sick.
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Just went around in my wrapper all the livelong day, my mama would faint .
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My grandmother continued to have fainting fits and hysterical fits.
III. noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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In the eighth round, she faced syncope, which means a faint or swoon.