Word.ws English Dictionary

fainest

fainest is the superlative form of fain.

Meaning of fain

Adverb

fain (comparative fainer, superlative fainest)

  1. (archaic, obsolete) With joy or pleasure; gladly.
    • And in her hand ſhe held a mirrhour bright, / VVherein her face ſhe often vevved fayne, / And in her ſelfe-lou'd ſemblance tooke delight; / For ſhe vvas vvondrous faire, as any liuing vvight.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 10, page 48
  2. (archaic, obsolete) By choice or will; willingly.
    • Now vvould I giue a thouſand furlongs of Sea, for an Acre of barren ground: Long heath, Brovvne firrs, any thing; the vvills aboue be done, but I vvould faine dye a dry death.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    Synonyms:
    lief

See all 14 meanings of fain

Questions about fainest

What is fainest the superlative form of?
Fainest is the superlative form of fain.

Words near fainest in the dictionary

  1. faineantism
  2. faineants
  3. fained
  4. fainer
  5. faines
  6. fainest
  7. faineth
  8. faining
  9. fainites
  10. fainits
  11. fainly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fainest (page history and authors); fain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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