| Library / English Dictionary |
FAITHFUL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church
Synonyms:
congregation; faithful; fold
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("faithful" is a kind of...):
social group (people sharing some social relation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "faithful"):
flock (a church congregation guided by a pastor)
Holonyms ("faithful" is a member of...):
denomination (a group of religious congregations having its own organization and a distinctive faith)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Any loyal and steadfast following
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("faithful" is a kind of...):
followers; following (a group of followers or enthusiasts)
Derivation:
faithful (steadfast in affection or allegiance)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Marked by fidelity to an original
Example:
a faithful rendering of the observed facts
Synonyms:
close; faithful
Classified under:
Similar:
accurate (conforming exactly or almost exactly to fact or to a standard or performing with total accuracy)
Derivation:
faithfulness (the quality of being faithful)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Steadfast in affection or allegiance
Example:
we do not doubt that England has a faithful patriot in the Lord Chancellor
Classified under:
Similar:
fast; firm; loyal; truehearted (unwavering in devotion to friend or vow or cause)
true (devoted (sometimes fanatically) to a cause or concept or truth)
Also:
constant (steadfast in purpose or devotion or affection)
true (consistent with fact or reality; not false)
trustworthy; trusty (worthy of trust or belief)
Attribute:
faithfulness; fidelity (the quality of being faithful)
Antonym:
unfaithful (not true to duty or obligation or promises)
Derivation:
faithful (any loyal and steadfast following)
faithfulness (the quality of being faithful)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not having sexual relations with anyone except your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend
Example:
he remained faithful to his wife
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
true to (sexually faithful)
Antonym:
unfaithful (having sexual relations with someone other than your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend)
Derivation:
faithfulness (the quality of being faithful)
Context examples:
Thus he was on duty all the time, ever vigilant and faithful, the most valuable of all the dogs.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Still faithful to her hold, her body followed the circle of his whirl so that her feet left the floor, and she swung through the air fastened to his throat by her hands.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
I have heard of a faithful performance.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Third point, there are faithful hands.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
The morning of the interesting day arrived, and Mrs. Weston's faithful pupil did not forget either at ten, or eleven, or twelve o'clock, that she was to think of her at four.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
You are a faithful friend, which is a rare enough thing in our circles.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“How near it may be to mine, I cannot pretend to say. You think it a faithful portrait undoubtedly.”
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
God forbid that I should undervalue the warm and faithful feelings of any of my fellow-creatures!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
This city had remained faithful to him, after the whole nation had forsaken his cause to join the standard of Parliament and liberty.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
In many organisms, maintenance of DNA integrity requires not only faithful DNA replication, but also DNA repair and recombination.
(DNA Maintenance, NCI Thesaurus)
