Standard Lemma guide

faintly

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈfeɪntli/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F EY1 N T L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In a faint manner; very quietly or lightly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

to a faint degree or weakly perceived

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • between him and the dim light a form was outlined faintly
  • stars shining faintly through the overcast
  • could hear his distant shouts only faintly
  • the rumors weren't even faintly true

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English feintli, feintliche, equivalent to faint + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: слабо (slabo) — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Bulgarian: бледо (bledo) — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Chinese Mandarin: 轻巧地 — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Esperanto: malforte — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • French: faiblement — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Ido: feble — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Italian: debolmente — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Italian: tenuemente — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Italian: fiocamente — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Italian: fievolmente — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Italian: pallidamente — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Italian: esilmente — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Latin: languidius — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Polish: lekko — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Polish: słabo — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Russian: сла́бо (slábo) — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly
  • Russian: ти́хо (tíxo) — in a faint manner; very quietly or lightly