"Faustian" meaning in English

See Faustian in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈfaʊstɪən/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈfaʊstiən/ [General-American] Forms: more Faustian [comparative], most Faustian [superlative]
Etymology: From the surname of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541) + -ian (“suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’”). According to medieval legend, Faust made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Purported tales about Faust’s life first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587). The story was then 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, {{suffix|en||ian|t2=suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’}} + -ian (“suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’”), {{nb...|As It hath bene Acted by the Right Honorable the Earle of Nottingham His Seruants. Written by Ch. Marl.}} […] Head templates: {{en-adj}} Faustian (comparative more Faustian, superlative most Faustian)
  1. Of or pertaining to Faust, especially in the sense of being willing to abandon one's principles or values in order to pursue knowledge, wealth or other benefits. Wikipedia link: Christopher Marlowe, Johann Spies, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Derived forms: Faustian bargain, deal with the devil Translations (of or pertaining to Faust): faustovský (Czech), faustilainen (Finnish), faustinen (Finnish), faustisch (German), faustowski (Polish), faustyczny (Polish), fáustico (Spanish), faustisk (Swedish)

Download JSON data for Faustian meaning in English (4.5kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1466",
        "short": "yes"
      },
      "expansion": "c. 1466",
      "name": "circa2"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "ian",
        "t2": "suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’"
      },
      "expansion": "+ -ian (“suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’”)",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "As It hath bene Acted by the Right Honorable the Earle of Nottingham His Seruants. Written by Ch. Marl."
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the surname of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541) + -ian (“suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’”). According to\nmedieval legend, Faust made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Purported tales about Faust’s life first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587). The story was then 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).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more Faustian",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most Faustian",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Faustian (comparative more Faustian, superlative most Faustian)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "Faust‧i‧an"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ian",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "Faustian bargain"
        },
        {
          "word": "deal with the devil"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Mihai Nadin, The Civilization of Illiteracy",
          "text": "Each transaction in the transient corresponds to a pragmatics that transforms the Faustian promise into an advertising slogan.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, “Scott Morrison must heed the lesson of Donald Trump and slap down Craig Kelly”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "Serious times demand honesty and self-awareness from people in positions of authority and, at the end of the day, political parties giving succour to fringe views about life-and-death matters is a Faustian pact.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 February 9, Ross Douthat, “America Between Jesus and Faust”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "But if techno-capitalist ambitions are fundamentally Faustian, should a Catholic observer (or anyone else with similar commitments) really wish for them to rise again?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of or pertaining to Faust, especially in the sense of being willing to abandon one's principles or values in order to pursue knowledge, wealth or other benefits."
      ],
      "id": "en-Faustian-en-adj-0uWx4YWZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "Faust",
          "Faust"
        ],
        [
          "willing",
          "willing#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "abandon",
          "abandon#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "principles",
          "principle#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "values",
          "value#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "pursue",
          "pursue"
        ],
        [
          "knowledge",
          "knowledge"
        ],
        [
          "wealth",
          "wealth"
        ],
        [
          "benefits",
          "benefit#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
          "word": "faustovský"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
          "word": "faustilainen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
          "word": "faustinen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
          "word": "faustisch"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
          "word": "faustowski"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
          "word": "faustyczny"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
          "word": "fáustico"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
          "word": "faustisk"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Christopher Marlowe",
        "Johann Spies",
        "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfaʊstɪən/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfaʊstiən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Faustian"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "Faustian bargain"
    },
    {
      "word": "deal with the devil"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1466",
        "short": "yes"
      },
      "expansion": "c. 1466",
      "name": "circa2"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "ian",
        "t2": "suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’"
      },
      "expansion": "+ -ian (“suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’”)",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "As It hath bene Acted by the Right Honorable the Earle of Nottingham His Seruants. Written by Ch. Marl."
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the surname of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541) + -ian (“suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’”). According to\nmedieval legend, Faust made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Purported tales about Faust’s life first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587). The story was then 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).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more Faustian",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most Faustian",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Faustian (comparative more Faustian, superlative most Faustian)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "Faust‧i‧an"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English 2-syllable words",
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English eponyms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English terms suffixed with -ian",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Mihai Nadin, The Civilization of Illiteracy",
          "text": "Each transaction in the transient corresponds to a pragmatics that transforms the Faustian promise into an advertising slogan.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, “Scott Morrison must heed the lesson of Donald Trump and slap down Craig Kelly”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "Serious times demand honesty and self-awareness from people in positions of authority and, at the end of the day, political parties giving succour to fringe views about life-and-death matters is a Faustian pact.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 February 9, Ross Douthat, “America Between Jesus and Faust”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "But if techno-capitalist ambitions are fundamentally Faustian, should a Catholic observer (or anyone else with similar commitments) really wish for them to rise again?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of or pertaining to Faust, especially in the sense of being willing to abandon one's principles or values in order to pursue knowledge, wealth or other benefits."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Faust",
          "Faust"
        ],
        [
          "willing",
          "willing#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "abandon",
          "abandon#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "principles",
          "principle#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "values",
          "value#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "pursue",
          "pursue"
        ],
        [
          "knowledge",
          "knowledge"
        ],
        [
          "wealth",
          "wealth"
        ],
        [
          "benefits",
          "benefit#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Christopher Marlowe",
        "Johann Spies",
        "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfaʊstɪən/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈfaʊstiən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
      "word": "faustovský"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
      "word": "faustilainen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
      "word": "faustinen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
      "word": "faustisch"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
      "word": "faustowski"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
      "word": "faustyczny"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
      "word": "fáustico"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "of or pertaining to Faust",
      "word": "faustisk"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Faustian"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-06-04 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (e9e0a99 and db5a844). 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.