feint
pronunciation
How to pronounce feint in British English:
UK [feɪnt]
How to pronounce feint in American English:
US [fent]
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- Noun:
- any distracting or deceptive maneuver (as a mock attack)
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- Verb:
- deceive by a mock action
Word Origin
- feint
- feint: The noun feint [17] and the adjective feint [19] are essentially different words, but they have a common ultimate origin. Feint ‘misleading mock attack’ was borrowed from French feinte, a noun use of the feminine form of the past participle of feindre ‘pretend’ (from which English got feign). Feint ‘printed with pale lines’ is an artificial variant of faint introduced in the printing trade in the mid 19th century (and faint itself originally came from the past participle of feindre).=> faint, feign
- feint (n.)
- 1670s, "a false show, assumed appearance;" 1680s as "a pretended blow, movement made to deceive an opponent as to the object of an attack," from French feinte "a feint, sham, fabrication, pretense," abstract noun from Old French feint "false, deceitful; sham, artificial; weak, faint, lazy, indolent" (13c.), originally fem. past participle of feindre "pretend, shirk" (see feign). Borrowed c. 1300 as adjective ("deceitful," also "enfeebled; lacking in courage;" see feint (v.)), but long obsolete in that sense except as a trade spelling of faint among stationers and paper-makers. Also as a noun in Middle English with senses "false-heartedness" (early 14c.), "bodily weakness" (c. 1400).
- feint (v.)
- c. 1300, feinten, "to deceive, pretend" (obsolete), also "become feeble or exhausted; to lack spirit or courage," from Middle English feint (adj.) "feigned, false, counterfeit" and directly from Old French feint "false, deceitful; weak, lazy," past participle of feindre "to hesitate, falter; lack courage; feign, pretend, simulate" (see feign). Sense of "make a sham attack, make a pretended blow" is attested by 1833, from the noun (1680s as "a feigned attack"). Related: Feinted; feinting.
Example
- 1. Was his intervention a tactical feint , to weaken his republican opponents ?
- 2. Neither mukesh 's new-found altruism nor his brother 's religious feint look likely to sway the court .
- 3. Feint iii-you feint , preventing your target from attacking for 3 seconds .
- 4. Could all that talk of the golden company sailing west have been a feint ?
- 5. But it 's a classic feint and parry misdirect .