FAITHFUL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does faithful mean? 

• FAITHFUL (noun)
  The noun FAITHFUL has 2 senses:

1. any loyal and steadfast following

2. a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church

  Familiarity information: FAITHFUL used as a noun is rare.

• FAITHFUL (adjective)
  The adjective FAITHFUL has 3 senses:

1. steadfast in affection or allegiance

2. marked by fidelity to an original

3. not having sexual relations with anyone except your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend

  Familiarity information: FAITHFUL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FAITHFUL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any loyal and steadfast following

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("faithful" is a kind of...):

followers; following (a group of followers or enthusiasts)

Derivation:

faithful (steadfast in affection or allegiance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

congregation; faithful; fold

Hypernyms ("faithful" is a kind of...):

social group (people sharing some social relation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "faithful"):

flock (a church congregation guided by a pastor)

Holonyms ("faithful" is a member of...):

denomination (a group of religious congregations having its own organization and a distinctive faith)

• FAITHFUL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Steadfast in affection or allegiance

Context example:

we do not doubt that England has a faithful patriot in the Lord Chancellor

Similar:

fast; firm; loyal; truehearted (unwavering in devotion to friend or vow or cause)

true (devoted (sometimes fanatically) to a cause or concept or truth)

Also:

constant (steadfast in purpose or devotion or affection)

true (consistent with fact or reality; not false)

trustworthy; trusty (worthy of trust or belief)

Attribute:

faithfulness; fidelity (the quality of being faithful)

Antonym:

unfaithful (not true to duty or obligation or promises)

Derivation:

faithful (any loyal and steadfast following)

faithfulness (the quality of being faithful)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by fidelity to an original

Synonyms:

close; faithful

Context example:

a faithful rendering of the observed facts

Similar:

accurate (conforming exactly or almost exactly to fact or to a standard or performing with total accuracy)

Derivation:

faithfulness (the quality of being faithful)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Not having sexual relations with anyone except your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend

Context example:

he remained faithful to his wife

Similar:

true to (sexually faithful)

Antonym:

unfaithful (having sexual relations with someone other than your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend)

Derivation:

faithfulness (the quality of being faithful)

 Context examples 

And thus, in a few days, by the help of a very faithful memory, I got some insight into their language.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Down at the bottom of the cliff, and within call of me, was waiting the faithful Zambo.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We used to be faithful about it, but since Father went away and all this war trouble unsettled us, we have neglected many things.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

An honest farmer had once an ass that had been a faithful servant to him a great many years, but was now growing old and every day more and more unfit for work.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

If you are honourable and faithful, I don't ask you to betray your friend.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I know that a stranger's hand will write to me next, to say that the good and faithful servant has been called at length into the joy of his Lord.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In spite of himself he was still faithful to Love.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She, on the other hand, though devoted and faithful, was less obtrusively affectionate.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He is a young man, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

By the edge, head and fore feet in the water, lay Skeet, faithful to the last.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)