Meaning

5 senses

  1. (archaic, obsolete, rare, transitive)To be delighted or glad about (someone or something); to rejoice in; also, to favour or prefer (someone or something).

  2. (archaic, obsolete, transitive)To make (someone) glad; to gladden; hence, to congratulate (someone); to welcome (someone).

  3. (Germanic, archaic, intransitive, obsolete)To celebrate or worship; specifically, to offer an oblation which is not a sacrificial blót (“ceremonial offering”).

  4. (archaic, intransitive, obsolete)Chiefly followed by of, in, on, or to: to be delighted or glad; to rejoice.

  5. (archaic, intransitive, obsolete)To desire, to wish.

Examples

1 sentences

  1. As when a wounded bull / shakes from his neck the faltering axe and, fain / to fly the cruel altars, roars in pain.

    carlosalberto · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Origin

From Middle English fainen (“to be glad or joyful, rejoice; to make happy, gladden; to wel

From Middle English fainen (“to be glad or joyful, rejoice; to make happy, gladden; to welcome; of an animal: to show happiness, as by wagging the tail; to act fawningly or flatteringly”), from Old English fæġnian (“to be glad, rejoice; to celebrate; to be delighted with, applaud; to wish for”), from Proto-West Germanic *faginōn (“to be glad, rejoice; to make glad, gladden”), from Proto-Germanic *faginōną (“to be glad, rejoice”), from *faganaz (“glad”): see further at etymology 1. Doublet of fawn.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

fains, faining, fained, fained
Base formfain · to fain
3rd person singularfains
Present participlefaining
Past simplefained
Past participlefained

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyfain
he, she, itfains

Past simpleLesson

all personsfained

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave fained
he, she, ithas fained

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill fain

Synonyms

35 synonyms
delightB2brightA1cheerA2fetchB1cherishB1contentB1elevateC1exhilarateC1gayB1happyA1pleaseB1perk upbeatifyenrapture

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
failA2failingfailureB1faintB1faintly

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

fain — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto