faintly
part of speech
adverb (faintly)
meaning for a pupil
1) Weakly, quietly or not clearly, so it is hard to see, hear or smell. tree →
2) Slightly; a little: «faintly surprised». tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories: «She smiled faintly», «music played faintly in the distance», «it smelled faintly of smoke». It tells the reader something is weak or small. Opposite: strongly, loudly, clearly.
examples
- The stars shone faintly through the clouds. tree →
- I could faintly hear the bell. tree →
- The room smelled faintly of paint. tree →
- She smiled faintly and closed her eyes. tree →
- He looked faintly annoyed. tree →
- The writing was faintly visible on the old paper. tree →
- The light glowed faintly at the end of the tunnel. tree →
- “Hullo, Peter,” she replied faintly, squeezing herself as small as possible. tree →
note
From faint (weak; or to pass out). Don't confuse with «feint» (a fake move) or with fainting. «Faintly» about an amount = a little, not a lot.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «faintly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.