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Faith
Definitions
- 1 Alternative form of in faith (“really, truly”). alt-of, alternative, archaic, not-comparable
"“How wonderfully,” said Vincent, “your city dignities unloose the tongue: directly a man has been a mayor, he thinks himself qualified for a Tully at least. Faith, Venables asked me one day, what was the Latin for spouting? and I told him, ‘hippomanes, or a raging humour in mayors.’”"
- 1 Ellipsis of by my faith. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, obsolete
- 1 A female given name from English. countable, uncountable
""Now, I was called Faith after the cardinal virtue; and I like my name, though many people would think it too Puritan; that was according to our gentle mother's pious desire."
- 2 A surname, also used as a stage name. countable, uncountable
- 3 A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Norman County, Minnesota. countable, uncountable
- 4 A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Miller County, Missouri. countable, uncountable
- 5 A place in the United States:; A town in Rowan County, North Carolina. countable, uncountable
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- 6 A place in the United States:; A minor city in Meade County, South Dakota. countable, uncountable
- 1 A trust or confidence in the intentions or abilities of a person, object, or ideal from prior empirical evidence. countable, uncountable
"The faithfulness of Old Faithful gives us faith in it."
- 2 loyalty or allegiance to a cause or a person wordnet
- 3 A conviction about abstractions, ideas, or beliefs, without empirical evidence, experience, or observation. countable, uncountable
"I have faith that my prayers will be answered."
- 4 complete confidence in a person or plan etc wordnet
- 5 A religious or spiritual belief system. countable, metonymically, uncountable
"The Christian faith."
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- 6 a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny wordnet
- 7 An obligation of loyalty or fidelity and the observance of such an obligation. countable, uncountable
"He acted in good faith to restore broken diplomatic ties after defeating the incumbent."
- 8 an institution to express belief in a divine power wordnet
- 9 Credibility or truth. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"1784-1810, William Mitford, History of Greece the faith of the foregoing […] narrative"
Etymology
From Middle English faith (also fay), borrowed from Old French fei, feid, from Latin fidem. Displaced native Old English ġelēafa, which was also a word for belief. * Old French had [θ] as a final devoiced allophone of /ð/ from lenited Latin /d/; this eventually fell silent in the 12th century. The -th of the Middle English forms is most straightforwardly accounted for as a direct borrowing of a French [θ]. However, it has also been seen as arising from alteration of a French form with -d under influence of English abstract nouns in the suffix -th (e.g., truth, ruth, health, etc.), or as a recharacterization of a French form like fay, fey, fei with the same suffix. Compare Champenois fiate, fiaite, showing the same preservation of the final consonant.
From Middle English faith (also fay), borrowed from Old French fei, feid, from Latin fidem. Displaced native Old English ġelēafa, which was also a word for belief. * Old French had [θ] as a final devoiced allophone of /ð/ from lenited Latin /d/; this eventually fell silent in the 12th century. The -th of the Middle English forms is most straightforwardly accounted for as a direct borrowing of a French [θ]. However, it has also been seen as arising from alteration of a French form with -d under influence of English abstract nouns in the suffix -th (e.g., truth, ruth, health, etc.), or as a recharacterization of a French form like fay, fey, fei with the same suffix. Compare Champenois fiate, fiaite, showing the same preservation of the final consonant.
From Middle English faith (also fay), borrowed from Old French fei, feid, from Latin fidem. Displaced native Old English ġelēafa, which was also a word for belief. * Old French had [θ] as a final devoiced allophone of /ð/ from lenited Latin /d/; this eventually fell silent in the 12th century. The -th of the Middle English forms is most straightforwardly accounted for as a direct borrowing of a French [θ]. However, it has also been seen as arising from alteration of a French form with -d under influence of English abstract nouns in the suffix -th (e.g., truth, ruth, health, etc.), or as a recharacterization of a French form like fay, fey, fei with the same suffix. Compare Champenois fiate, fiaite, showing the same preservation of the final consonant.
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