"Faustian bargain" meaning in English

See Faustian bargain in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈfaʊstɪən ˈbɑːɡən/ [Received-Pronunciation], /-ɡɪn/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈfaʊstiən ˈbɑːɹɡən/ [General-American] Audio: En-uk-Faustian bargain.oga Forms: Faustian bargains [plural]
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ɡən Etymology: From the medieval legend of Faust, who made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The story first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587), which purported to contain tales about the life of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541). It was particularly popularized by two plays, Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of D. Faustus (first published 1604) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust (published 1808 and 1832). Etymology templates: {{circa2|1466|short=yes}} c. 1466, {{nb...|As It hath bene Acted by the Right Honorable the Earle of Nottingham His Seruants. Written by Ch. Marl.}} […] Head templates: {{en-noun}} Faustian bargain (plural Faustian bargains)
  1. (idiomatic) An agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: deal with the devil Translations (agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits): duivelspact [neuter] (Dutch), faustilainen sopimus (Finnish), sopimus paholaisen kanssa (Finnish), pacte faustien [masculine] (French), pacte avec le diable [masculine] (French), Teufelspakt [masculine] (German), עסקה פאוסטיאנית (Hebrew), patto col diavolo [masculine] (Italian), pakt z diabłem [masculine] (Polish), barganha faustiana [feminine] (Portuguese), сде́лка с дья́волом (sdélka s dʹjávolom) [feminine] (Russian), faustovska pogodba [feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), ugovor s vragom (Serbo-Croatian), ugovor s đavlom (Serbo-Croatian), ugovor s đavolom (Serbo-Croatian), pacto fáustico (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-Faustian_bargain-en-noun-V9~Z5qMU Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hebrew translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 86 14 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 87 13 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 84 16 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 64 36 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 74 26 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 63 37 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 73 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Hebrew translations: 76 24 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 73 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 66 34 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 83 17 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 73 27 Disambiguation of Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations: 83 17 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 71 29 Disambiguation of 'agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits': 94 6
  2. (idiomatic) A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences. Tags: idiomatic Translations (deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences): faustilainen sopimus (Finnish), sopimus paholaisen kanssa (Finnish), barganha faustiana [feminine] (Portuguese)
    Sense id: en-Faustian_bargain-en-noun-AfA3Zgpx Disambiguation of 'deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences': 4 96
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: sell one's soul

Inflected forms

Download JSONL data for Faustian bargain meaning in English (13.1kB)

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          "text": "The university’s abandonment of its founding value of academic freedom in exchange for the corporation’s large financial contribution was a Faustian bargain.",
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          "ref": "1908 August, “The Bookman’s Letter Box”, in The Bookman: An Illustrated Magazine of Literature and Life, volume XXVII, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company […], →OCLC, section I, page 558, column 1",
          "text": "Most people nowadays, in this country at least, do not seem to be able to see anything else but money. They would cheerfully sell their souls to hell for it. Quite a number of them, according to the tencent magazines, have already made this Faustian bargain.",
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          "ref": "1950, Frank Yerby, chapter 16, in Floodtide, New York, N.Y.: The Dial Press, →OCLC, page 291",
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          "ref": "2004 July, Brett A. Berliner, “Mephistopheles and Monkeys: Rejuvenation, Race, and Sexuality in Popular Culture in Interwar France”, in Journal of the History of Sexuality, volume 13, number 3, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press; Austin, Tx.: University of Texas Press, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 309",
          "text": "Rejuvenation was associated with a reinvigorated sex drive, and this connection generated an anxiety expressed in the Faustian bargain: damnation for a few extra years of carnal pleasure.",
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          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
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          "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
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        },
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          "_dis1": "94 6",
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          "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
          "word": "עסקה פאוסטיאנית"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "it",
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          "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
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          "word": "patto col diavolo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
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          "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
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        },
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          "_dis1": "94 6",
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          "code": "es",
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          "word": "pacto fáustico"
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        {
          "ref": "1974 October, Joel Primack, Frank von Hippel, “Nuclear Reactor Safety: The Origins and Issues of a Vital Debate”, in Samuel H. Day, Jr., editor, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume XXX, number 8, Chicago, Ill.: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 1",
          "text": "It has been remarked that all technology is a Faustian bargain: one obtains conveniences and sometimes luxuries, but in exchange one gets an increased potential for catastrophe.",
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          "ref": "1992 June, Henry J. Reske, “What Price Prosecution?: Critics Claim Noriega Guilty Verdict Costly in Lives, ‘Faustian Bargains’”, in ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 78, Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20, column 1",
          "text": "And the law's long arm loosened its grip on some drug dealers when prosecutors offered them deals for their testimony. \"The government was hell-bent on convicting [Manuel] Noriega no matter what the cost,\" said Rep. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., chair of the House Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice. \"When you look at some of the Faustian bargains that were struck, you have to wonder: Did we really have to burn the village down in order to save it?\"",
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          "ref": "1997 July 21, Brian Bremner, Emily Thornton, “Blackmail!: A Rash of Scandals and a Government Crackdown are Showing how Mob-linked Investors—the Sokaiya—Prey on some of Japan’s Biggest Companies. Can Business Break Free?”, in Businessweek, archived from the original on 2019-12-19",
          "text": "But for decades, many executives actually employed sokaiya as muscle to keep unruly investors in check during their choreographed annual meetings. [...] Yet executives' reliance on mobsters turned out to be a Faustian bargain. By the 1970s, the sokaiya had figured out how to become stockholders themselves and threaten to ask embarrassing questions at annual meetings.",
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        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 March 10, Ellen Barry, “Plain speaking from Biden in Moscow speech”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2012-04-25",
          "text": "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. [...] used a speech at Moscow State University to criticize Russia’s legal and political systems, a move likely to irritate the country's leaders. [...] “I urge all you students here: Don’t compromise on the basic elements of democracy. You need not make that Faustian bargain.”",
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        "(idiomatic) A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences."
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          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "code": "fi",
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          "sense": "deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences",
          "word": "faustilainen sopimus"
        },
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          "_dis1": "4 96",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences",
          "word": "sopimus paholaisen kanssa"
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  "word": "Faustian bargain"
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  "etymology_text": "From the medieval legend of Faust, who made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The story first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587), which purported to contain tales about the life of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541). It was particularly popularized by two plays, Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of D. Faustus (first published 1604) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust (published 1808 and 1832).",
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          "text": "Most people nowadays, in this country at least, do not seem to be able to see anything else but money. They would cheerfully sell their souls to hell for it. Quite a number of them, according to the tencent magazines, have already made this Faustian bargain.",
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          "text": "I've made my Faustian bargain—for this woman, I've sold my immortal soul …",
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          "text": "A number of characters in Middle-earth engage in some kind of Faustian bargain where they are tempted with promises of power, wealth, and status. This is how Sauron ensnares the kings of men and dwarves with the elf-crafted rings of power.",
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        {
          "ref": "2004 July, Brett A. Berliner, “Mephistopheles and Monkeys: Rejuvenation, Race, and Sexuality in Popular Culture in Interwar France”, in Journal of the History of Sexuality, volume 13, number 3, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press; Austin, Tx.: University of Texas Press, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 309",
          "text": "Rejuvenation was associated with a reinvigorated sex drive, and this connection generated an anxiety expressed in the Faustian bargain: damnation for a few extra years of carnal pleasure.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "agreement",
          "agreement"
        ],
        [
          "abandons",
          "abandon#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "spiritual",
          "spiritual"
        ],
        [
          "values",
          "value#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "moral",
          "moral"
        ],
        [
          "principle",
          "principle"
        ],
        [
          "obtain",
          "obtain"
        ],
        [
          "knowledge",
          "knowledge"
        ],
        [
          "wealth",
          "wealth"
        ],
        [
          "benefits",
          "benefit#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "deal with the devil"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1974 October, Joel Primack, Frank von Hippel, “Nuclear Reactor Safety: The Origins and Issues of a Vital Debate”, in Samuel H. Day, Jr., editor, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume XXX, number 8, Chicago, Ill.: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 1",
          "text": "It has been remarked that all technology is a Faustian bargain: one obtains conveniences and sometimes luxuries, but in exchange one gets an increased potential for catastrophe.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992 June, Henry J. Reske, “What Price Prosecution?: Critics Claim Noriega Guilty Verdict Costly in Lives, ‘Faustian Bargains’”, in ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 78, Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20, column 1",
          "text": "And the law's long arm loosened its grip on some drug dealers when prosecutors offered them deals for their testimony. \"The government was hell-bent on convicting [Manuel] Noriega no matter what the cost,\" said Rep. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., chair of the House Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice. \"When you look at some of the Faustian bargains that were struck, you have to wonder: Did we really have to burn the village down in order to save it?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997 July 21, Brian Bremner, Emily Thornton, “Blackmail!: A Rash of Scandals and a Government Crackdown are Showing how Mob-linked Investors—the Sokaiya—Prey on some of Japan’s Biggest Companies. Can Business Break Free?”, in Businessweek, archived from the original on 2019-12-19",
          "text": "But for decades, many executives actually employed sokaiya as muscle to keep unruly investors in check during their choreographed annual meetings. [...] Yet executives' reliance on mobsters turned out to be a Faustian bargain. By the 1970s, the sokaiya had figured out how to become stockholders themselves and threaten to ask embarrassing questions at annual meetings.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 March 10, Ellen Barry, “Plain speaking from Biden in Moscow speech”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2012-04-25",
          "text": "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. [...] used a speech at Moscow State University to criticize Russia’s legal and political systems, a move likely to irritate the country's leaders. [...] “I urge all you students here: Don’t compromise on the basic elements of democracy. You need not make that Faustian bargain.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "deal",
          "deal#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "focuses",
          "focus#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "present",
          "present#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "gain",
          "gain#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "consider",
          "consider"
        ],
        [
          "long-term",
          "long-term"
        ],
        [
          "consequence",
          "consequence"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfaʊstɪən ˈbɑːɡən/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ɡɪn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfaʊstiən ˈbɑːɹɡən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)ɡən"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-uk-Faustian bargain.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/13/En-uk-Faustian_bargain.oga/En-uk-Faustian_bargain.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/En-uk-Faustian_bargain.oga"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "duivelspact"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "word": "faustilainen sopimus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "word": "sopimus paholaisen kanssa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pacte faustien"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pacte avec le diable"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Teufelspakt"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "word": "עסקה פאוסטיאנית"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "patto col diavolo"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pakt z diabłem"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "barganha faustiana"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "sdélka s dʹjávolom",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "сде́лка с дья́волом"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "faustovska pogodba"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "word": "ugovor s vragom"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "word": "ugovor s đavlom"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "word": "ugovor s đavolom"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "agreement in which a person abandons spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain benefits",
      "word": "pacto fáustico"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences",
      "word": "faustilainen sopimus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences",
      "word": "sopimus paholaisen kanssa"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "barganha faustiana"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Christopher Marlowe",
    "Johann Spies",
    "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe"
  ],
  "word": "Faustian bargain"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-07-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-07-01 using wiktextract (ad53249 and b4eb25b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.