faith

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“
We delight in dissecting this much tortured faculty, from time to time, in search of a certain something which we call our faith--forgetting that faith is but an attitude, an empty hand for grasping an environing Presence.

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Definitions (38)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. noun Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
  2. noun Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. See Synonyms at belief, trust.
  3. noun Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters.
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Examples (50)

  • Today we see those expectations becoming a reality. 2009 has already increased our faith is the success of this achievement. —  Asian Tribune
  • But the alien qualities of this faith is an argument for its divine origins, not weird human inventiveness. —  Christian Spirituality - BitterSweetLife
  • We delight in dissecting this much tortured faculty, from time to time, in search of a certain something which we call our faith--forgetting that faith is but an attitude, an empty hand for grasping an environing Presence. —  Natural Law in the Spiritual World
  • In the minister's family the line between the world and the faith is a wavering one; religion becomes a matter of course, and yet is without the mystery of religion as elsewhere, so that wife and sons regard ecclesiastical ambition as meritorious, whether the heart be in it piously or profanely. —  Bohemian Days Three American Tales
  • He did, however, intervene in temporal matters when they directly influenced spiritual affairs, and of this the propagation of the faith was an instance. —  The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

belief ·  confidence ·  religion ·  truth ·  virtue ·  love ·  sentiment ·  peace ·  interest

Used in the same contextWord Family

faith:   faiths
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Anglo-Norman fed, from Latin fidēs; see bheidh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English faith, feith, fayth, feyth (the -th being an accommodation, to the common English suffix -th (as in truth, ruth, health, and other abstract nouns), of -d in the oldest Old French form feid), also fay, fey, fei, faith, fidelity, trust, belief, from Old French feid, foit, later fei (see fay), foi (Anglo-French fei), nominative fez, fois = Provencal fe, nominative fes = Spanish Portuguese fe = Italian fede, from Latin fides, accusative fidem, faith, belief, trust, from fidere, trust, confide in, = Greek πείθειν, persuade, mid. πείθεσθαι, believe, 2d perfect πέποιθα, I trust (deriv. πίστις, trust, faith, πιστός, trusty, faithful, trustworthy, credible), √, *φιθ, orig. move by entreaty, = Anglo-Saxon biddan, English bid, entreat, pray, akin to Anglo-Saxon bīdan, English bide, await: see bid and bide. From the same Latin source are English fidelity, fiduciary, etc., infidel, etc., affidavit, affy, affiant, defy, defiant, confide, confident, etc., diffident, perfidy, etc.
  2. from faith, n.
  3. Abbr. of i' faith, Middle English i faith, i. e., in faith. This phrase appears in many forms—i' faith, ifacks, ifecks, etc., faiks, faix, facks, fecks, fegs, etc.
 

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/feɪθ/
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