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

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