faithfuladj/ˈfeɪθ.fl̩/

• 1

  Loyal; adhering firmly to person or cause.

  • My dog is very faithful: he doesn't like to be petted by anybody else.
  • Engels observes in one of his early writings that the Hegelian Left was the natural approach to communism, and that Hegelian communists such as Hess, Ruge, and Herwegh were a proof that the Germans must adopt communism if they were to remain faithful to their philosophical tradition from Kant to Hegel.
• 2

  Having faith.

  • The application of the old discipline, say the conservatives, would probably produce a smaller but more faithful Church.
• 3

  Reliable; worthy of trust.

  • My servant is very faithful.
• 4

  Consistent with reality.

  • I would consider that a very faithful reproduction.
• 5

  Engaging in sexual relations only with one's spouse or long-term sexual partner.

  • They had been faithful to each other all of their married life.
  • She wanted to be free to explore casual affairs, but her man had to be faithful.
• 6

  mathematicssciencesInjective in specific contexts, e.g. of representations in representation or functors in category theory.

• 7

  Of a module, whose annihilator is zero.

faithfulnoun/ˈfeɪθ.fl̩/

• 1

  The practicing members of a religion or followers of a cause.

  • The faithful pray five times a day.
  • The annual meeting was attended by the long-term party faithful.
• 2

  Someone or something that is faithful or reliable.

  • Earlier this year, as the recession put a damper on ticket sales, Maxwell said the easy route would have been to go for the tried-and-true old faithfuls.