Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - faint

~1 adj 1 difficult to see, hear, smell etc  (a faint noise | the faint outline of the cliffs) 2 a faint hope/chance/feeling etc a very small or slight chance etc  (There's still a faint hope that they might be alive. | There was a faint edge of menace in his voice.) 3 feeling weak because you are very ill, tired, or hungry  (feeling faint with hunger and fatigue) 4 not have the faintest idea to not know anything at all about something  (They didn't seem to have the faintest idea what I was talking about.)  (- see also damn sb/sth with faint praise damn5 (2)) - faintly adv  (Her name sounds faintly familiar. | The sun shone faintly through the clouds.) - faintness n ~2 v 1 to suddenly become unconscious for a short time  (Several fans fainted in the blazing heat.) 2 I nearly/almost fainted spoken used to say that you were very surprised by something  (I nearly fainted when they told me the price.) ~3 n an act of becoming unconscious  (in a (dead) faint)  (She fell down in a faint.)