Word.ws English Dictionary

Faustian bargain

Syllables: Faust·i·an bar·gain/ˈfaʊstɪən ˈbɑːɡən/US/ˈfaʊstiən ˈbɑːɹɡən/

Faustian bargain noun: an agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits.

Noun

Faustian bargain (plural Faustian bargains)

  1. (idiomatic) An agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits.
    • The university’s abandonment of its founding value of academic freedom in exchange for the corporation’s large financial contribution was a Faustian bargain.
    • Most people nowadays, in this country at least, do not seem to be able to see anything else but money. They would cheerfully sell their souls to hell for it. Quite a number of them, according to the tencent magazines, have already made this Faustian bargain.1908 August, “The Bookman’s Letter Box”, in The Bookman: An Illustrated Magazine of Literature and Life, volume XXVII, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company […], →OCLC, section I, page 558, column 1
  2. (idiomatic) A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences.
    • It has been remarked that all technology is a Faustian bargain: one obtains conveniences and sometimes luxuries, but in exchange one gets an increased potential for catastrophe.1974 October, Joel Primack, Frank von Hippel, “Nuclear Reactor Safety: The Origins and Issues of a Vital Debate”, in Samuel H. Day, Jr., editor, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume XXX, number...
    • And the law's long arm loosened its grip on some drug dealers when prosecutors offered them deals for their testimony. "The government was hell-bent on convicting [Manuel] Noriega no matter what the cost," said Rep. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., chair of the House Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal...1992 June, Henry J. Reske, “What Price Prosecution?: Critics Claim Noriega Guilty Verdict Costly in Lives, ‘Faustian Bargains’”, in ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 78, Chicago, Ill....

Examples of Faustian bargain in a sentence

  • I've made my Faustian bargain—for this woman, I've sold my immortal soul …1950, Frank Yerby, chapter 16, in Floodtide, New York, N.Y.: The Dial Press, →OCLC, page 291:
  • A number of characters in Middle-earth engage in some kind of Faustian bargain where they are tempted with promises of power, wealth, and status.2003, Anne C. Petty, Tolkien in the Land of Heroes: Discovering the Human Spirit, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Press, →ISBN, page...
  • Rejuvenation was associated with a reinvigorated sex drive, and this connection generated an anxiety expressed in the Faustian bargain: damnation for a few extra years of carnal pleasure.2004 July, Brett A. Berliner, “Mephistopheles and Monkeys: Rejuvenation, Race, and Sexuality in Popular Culture in Interwar France”, in...
  • "When you look at some of the Faustian bargains that were struck, you have to wonder: Did we really have to burn the village down in order to save it?"1992 June, Henry J. Reske, “What Price Prosecution?: Critics Claim Noriega Guilty Verdict Costly in Lives, ‘Faustian Bargains’”, in ABA...

Synonyms of Faustian bargain

Forms of Faustian bargain

pluralFaustian bargains

Origin of Faustian bargain

From the medieval legend of Faust, who made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The story first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587), which purported to contain tales about the life of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541). It was 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).

Words that rhyme with Faustian bargain

Questions about Faustian bargain

What does Faustian bargain mean?
Faustian bargain means an agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits.
How do you use Faustian bargain in a sentence?
I've made my Faustian bargain—for this woman, I've sold my immortal soul …
What part of speech is Faustian bargain?
Faustian bargain is a noun.
How do you pronounce Faustian bargain?
Faustian bargain is pronounced /ˈfaʊstɪən ˈbɑːɡən/ (UK).
What is the plural of Faustian bargain?
The plural of Faustian bargain is Faustian bargains.

Words near Faustian bargain in the dictionary

  1. faussebraye
  2. faussebrayes
  3. Fausset
  4. Faust
  5. Faustian
  6. Faustian bargain
  7. Faustian bargains
  8. Faustian deal
  9. Faustian dilemma
  10. Faustianly
  11. Faustianness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Faustian bargain (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-Faustian bargain.oga.

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