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

And if other nations stand aside from that troika that may be, not from respect, as the poets would fain believe, but simply from horror.

From Time Magazine Archive

I would fain at the moment have become bee or lizard, that I might have found fitting nutriment, permanent shelter here.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë