faithful
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Not having sexual relations with anyone except your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
faythfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfeɪθfəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not having sexual relations with anyone except your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend
“He remained faithful to his wife.”
Loyal; adhering firmly to person or cause.
Having faith.
Engaging in sexual relations only with one's spouse or long-term sexual partner.
Reliable; worthy of trust.
Consistent with reality.
noun
Someone or something that is faithful or reliable.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Loyal; adhering firmly to person or cause.
Used this way, faithful is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in ethics or values and relationships contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Loyal and dependable
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
- Relationships
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use faithful
- “He remained faithful to his wife.”adjective
- “Years of faithful service.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A geyser in Yellowstone National Park that erupts for about 4 minutes about every 65 minutes.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The quality of being faithful.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: someone or something that is faithful or reliable
Antonyms
Sense: not having sexual relations with anyone except your husband
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.