infaust

English

Etymology

From Latin īnfaustus, from in- (“not”) + faustus (“fortunate, lucky”).

Adjective

infaust (comparative more infaust, superlative most infaust)

1. (archaic) Unlucky, unfortunate, ill-omened; unpropitious; sinister.
   • 1849, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Caxtons: A Family Picture:

     Nevertheless, it was an infaust and sinister augury for Austin Caxton[.]

   • 1989, François Rabelais, “An Epistle by Pantagruel's Limosin”, in The Complete Works of Doctor François Rabelais:

     While we, alas! must still obambulate, Sequacious of the court and courtier's fate : O most infaust who optates there to live! An aulic life no solid joys can give.

2. (medicine, rare) Of a prognosis: Poor, grim.

References

John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “infaust”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• Faustin, faunist, fiaunts, fustian