Standard Lemma guide
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.
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adj
Of or pertaining to Faust, especially in the sense of being willing to abandon one's principles or values in order to pursue knowledge, wealth or other benefits.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
pertaining to or resembling or befitting Faust or Faustus especially in insatiably striving for worldly knowledge and power even at the price of spiritual values
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From the surname of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541) + -ian (suffix forming relational adjectives or nouns). According to medieval legend, Faust made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Purported tales about Faust’s life first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587). The story was then particularly popularized by two plays, Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of D. Faustus (first published 1604) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust (published 1808 and 1832).
Across languages
8 source translations are retained for this English entry.
