fain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In vain the kindly call: in vain The plate for which thou once wast fain At morn and noon and daylight’s wane, O King of mousers.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 3, 2023
“Ah, good my lords, what a nose is his! When one sees it, one is fain to cry aloud, ‘Nay! ’tis too much!’”
From New York Times • Apr. 14, 2022
‘I will,’ said he, ‘finish my business in Sogn and Hordaland, for I would fain in the summer take my ship out to Iceland.’
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2019
Such archaisms as "dight," "say him nay," "fain," such clicheés as "balmy breezes," "surly portals" are all shoddy stuff.
From Time Magazine Archive
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My Spring is gone, however, but it has left me that French floweret on my hands, which, in some moods, I would fain be rid of.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.