faithful

faithful adj Faithful, loyal, true, constant, staunch, steadfast, resolute are comparable when meaning firm in adherence to the person, the country, or the cause to whom or to which one is bound by duty or promise.

Faithful in its most common sense implies firm and unswerving adherence to a person or thing to whom or to which one is united by some tie (as marriage, friendship, political allegiance, gratitude, or honor) or to the oath, pledge, or promise made when one has accepted a position, an office, or an obligation

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a faithful husband is faithful to his marriage vows

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a faithful public servant is faithful to his oath of office

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[Cleopatra] was faithful to the main policy of her life, the restoration of Egypt to the position which it had held under the first Ptolemies— Buchan

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The term is also used when only firm adherence to actuality or reality (as in representation or portrayal) is implied; it then comes close to accurate or exact in meaning

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the photograph is a faithful likeness

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the faithful rendering of the observed facts— Encounter

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a faithful description of village life

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Loyal implies faithfulness to one's pledged word or continued allegiance to the leader, the country, the institution, or the principles to which one feels oneself morally bound; the term suggests not only adherence but resistance to being lured or persuaded away from that adherence

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most of the subjects remained loyal to their sovereign

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your wife, my lord; your true and loyal wife— Shak.

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"I've been loyal to Arch Gunnard for a long time now," Lonnie said, "I'd hate to haul off and leave him like that"— Caldwell

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True (see also REAL) is somewhat stronger than loyal and faithful in stressing a personal or emotional quality as well as steadiness in one's allegiance, devotion, or fidelity

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a true friend

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he is a New England poet, perhaps the New England poet, and reaps all the advantage there is in being true to a particular piece of earth— Mark Van Doren

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Constant also stresses firmness or steadiness in attachment, devotion, or allegiance, but it carries a weaker implication of strict adherence to one's vows, pledges, or obligations. Consequently it often implies a state of mind that is the opposite of fickleness rather than a course of action that is the opposite of unfaithfulness and disloyalty

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even Rochester, utterly bad and ignoble, was not only a poet and a wit but a loyal husband}}

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constant if not faithful— Repplier

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I never knew a pair of lovers more constant than those two— Millay

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Staunch carries far more strongly than loyal an implication of one's unwillingness to be turned aside from those to whom one owes allegiance or to whom one has pledged one's troth or from an institution (as a church or political party) to which by conviction one belongs. From its earliest and still current nautical sense of being watertight and sound it retains a suggestion of an inherent imperviousness to all influences that would weaken one's loyalty or steadiness in faith

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a staunch believer

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a staunch Republican

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staunch fidelity to law and order— Montague

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you, who from a girl have had a strong mind and a staunch heart— Dickens

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Steadfast so stresses unwavering or unswerving adherence that the term is applicable not only to persons but to things that maintain a steady course or an unchanging quality or character

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which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast— Heb 6:19

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the blue, the steadfast, the blazing summer sky— Woolf

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However its most usual application is to persons or their attachments

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therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable—/ Cor 15:58

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if love . . . survives through all sorrow, and remains steadfast with us through all changes— Thackeray

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narrow of vision but steadfast to principles— Repplier

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Resolute implies steadfastness and, often, staunchness, but it throws the emphasis upon a determination which cannot be broken down as a quality of character and may suggest firm adherence to one's own purposes or ends rather than to those of others

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not . . . resolute and firm, but perverse and obstinate— Burke

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she sat there resolute and ready for responsibility— Conrad

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an earthquake in the midst of the proceedings terrified every prelate but the resolute Primate— J. R. Green

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Analogous words: devoted, *loving, affectionate: tried, trustworthy, *reliable, dependable

Antonyms: faithless

Contrasted words: disloyal, false, perfidious, traitorous, treacherous (see FAITHLESS): fickle, inconstant, unstable