faith

1 of 2

noun

ˈfāth 

plural faiths ˈfāths 

 sometimes  ˈfāt͟hz

1

a

: allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty

lost faith in the company's president

b(1)

: fidelity to one's promises

(2)

: sincerity of intentions

acted in good faith

2

a(1)

: belief and trust in and loyalty to God

(2)

: belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion

b(1)

: firm belief in something for which there is no proof

clinging to the faith that her missing son would one day return

(2)

: complete trust

3

: something that is believed especially with strong conviction

especially : a system of religious beliefs

the Protestant faith

faith

2 of 2

verb

ˈfāth 

faithed; faithing; faiths

transitive verb

archaic

: believe, trust

Phrases

on faith

: without question

took everything he said on faith

Synonyms

Noun

• devotion
• piety
• religion

Choose the Right Synonym for faith

belief, faith, credence, credit mean assent to the truth of something offered for acceptance.

belief may or may not imply certitude in the believer.

my belief that I had caught all the errors

faith almost always implies certitude even where there is no evidence or proof.

an unshakable faith in God

credence suggests intellectual assent without implying anything about grounds for assent.

a theory now given credence by scientists

credit may imply assent on grounds other than direct proof.

gave full credit to the statement of a reputable witness

Examples of faith in a Sentence

Noun

Faith without doubt leads to moral arrogance, the eternal pratfall of the religiously convinced. —Joe Klein, Time, 17 May 2004

Nick wiped at the moustache of sweat droplets that was as much a part of his face as his eyes and nose and gave a shrug that indicated a certain lack of faith in our judgment. —Tom Perrotta, Joe College, 2000

But while no one with a grain of sense trusted Miss Stephanie, Jem and I had considerable faith in Miss Maudie. She had never told on us, had never played cat-and-mouse with us, she was not at all interested in our private lives. She was our friend. —Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960

His supporters have accepted his claims with blind faith.

Our faith in the government has been badly shaken by the recent scandals.

Lending him the money to start his own business was an act of faith.

It requires a giant leap of faith for us to believe that she is telling the truth.

Nothing is more important to her than her faith in God.

She says that her faith has given her the courage to deal with this tragedy.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

That may never happen if the victim or whistleblower fears retribution or lacks faith in the system. —Gregory Royal Pratt, Chicago Tribune, 15 Dec. 2024

Time and again, her poems land on faith as the fuel to catapult us to a yonder she’s dreamed of exploring since her girlhood in Knoxville and Cincinnati. —L. Lamar Wilson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2024

Verb

Faith that not only is Oakland the best place for the A’s, but also faith that Fisher and Kaval will botch this. —Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 June 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English feith, fei, borrowed from Anglo-French feit, feid, fei, going back to Latin fidēs "trust, guarantee, proof, sincerity, loyalty, belief," going back to *bhid-ēi-, noun derivative from zero-grade of an Indo-European verbal base *b^hei̯d^h- "entrust, trust," whence Latin fīdere "to trust (in), have confidence (in)," fīdus "faithful," Greek peíthesthai "to obey, comply with, believe," peíthein "to persuade, prevail upon," Albanian be "oath," and probably Old Church Slavic běždǫ, běditi "to compel, constrain," běda "distress, need"

Note: The English word is an early loan from medieval French, first attested in a homily fragment from the 12th century (see feþ in Dictionary of Old English); it appears to preserve the final interdental fricative generally lost in early Old French—a loss reflected in the more common Anglo-French form fei (also loaned into Middle English—see fay entry 2). Indo-European *b^hei̯d^h- is also usually claimed to be the source of Germanic *bīðan- "to wait" (see bide).

Verb

verbal derivative of faith entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing faith

• accept/take (something) on faith
• an article of faith
• article of faith
• bad faith
• break faith with
• faith healing
• find faith
• good faith
• have faith in
• have no faith
• in bad faith
• in good faith
• keep faith with
• keep the faith
• lose faith in
• put/have little faith in

Kids Definition

faith

noun

ˈfāth

1

a

: devotion to duty or a person : loyalty

b

: the quality of keeping one's promises

2

a

: belief and trust in and loyalty to God

b

: belief in the doctrines of a religion

c

: firm belief even in the absence of proof

d

: complete confidence

3

: something that is firmly believed

especially : a system of religious beliefs

Etymology

Noun

Middle English feith "loyalty," from early French feid, foi (same meaning), from Latin fides "faith," from fidere "to trust" — related to bona fide, confide, fiancé

Legal Definition

faith

noun

1

a

: allegiance or loyalty to a duty or a person

b

: sincerity or honesty of intentions see also bad faith, good faith

2

: fidelity to one's promises and obligations