faint — ONAD · Shobdo

faint /fānt, feɪnt

▸ adjective

1 (of a sight, smell, or sound) barely perceptible:

the faint murmur of voices.

▪ (of a hope, chance, or possibility) slight; remote:

there is a faint chance that the enemy may flee.

▪ lacking in strength or enthusiasm; feeble:

the faint beat of a butterfly's wing.

2 [predicative] weak and dizzy; close to losing consciousness:

the heat made him feel faint.

▸ verb [no object] lose consciousness for a short time because of a temporarily insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain:

I fainted from loss of blood.

▪ archaic grow weak or feeble; decline:

the fires were fainting.

▸ noun [in singular] a sudden loss of consciousness:

she hit the floor in a dead faint.

– PHRASES
not have the faintest informal
have no idea:

I haven't the faintest what it means.

– DERIVATIVES
faintness /ˈfāntnis, ˈfeɪntnɪs/ noun

– ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense ‘feigned’, also ‘feeble, cowardly’, surviving in faint heart): from Old French faint, past participle of faindre (see feign). Compare with feint1.