Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "fain" []

  • Happily; gladly: "I would fain improve every opportunity to wonder and worship, as a sunflower welcomes the light” ( Henry David Thoreau). (adverb)
  • Archaic Preferably; rather. (adverb)
  • Archaic Ready; willing. (adjective)
  • Archaic Pleased; happy. (adjective)
  • Archaic Obliged or required. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "fain" in a sentence
  • "[56] Morris became so intolerant of French vocables that he detested and would "fain" have eschewed the very word literature."
  • "No, I could not "fain," as she did; but I glanced at my watch as I rose from the table, and found that it wanted a quarter of eight."
  • "He, too, had fain been the father of her children, and many skins has he cured thereto."
Words like "fain"