Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Pertaining to or resembling Faust or Faustus: Relating to the character of Faust, a scholar in German legend who makes a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.
   • Characterized by an insatiable striving for worldly knowledge, power, or success, especially at the sacrifice of spiritual, moral, or ethical values: Describing a bargain, ambition, or pursuit where one is willing to pay a terrible ultimate price for immediate or temporal gain.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The scientist's Faustian pursuit of a breakthrough led him to ignore all ethical guidelines.
  • The dictator made a Faustian bargain with powerful corporations, trading the nation's resources for political support.
  • The novel explores the Faustian theme of a musician selling his soul for artistic genius.

Advanced Usage

• "Faustian pact/bargain/deal": A specific idiom meaning an agreement in which one sacrifices one's integrity, principles, or long-term well-being for some immediate or worldly advantage.
  • Signing that contract felt like entering into a Faustian bargain; the money was good, but the work was morally reprehensible.
• Used to describe characters, situations, or ambitions in literature, politics, and business that mirror the Faust legend's core conflict between aspiration and morality.

Variants and Related Words

• Faust: (Proper noun) The protagonist of the German legend.
• Mephistophelian (adj): Devilish, cunning, and evil, akin to Mephistopheles, the demon in the Faust story.

Synonyms

• Pact-with-the-devil: Directly referencing the core concept.
• Sell one's soul: An idiomatic phrase with a similar meaning.
• Unscrupulous: Lacking moral principles, though less specific to the trade of soul for gain.
• Overreaching: Extending beyond proper limits, often with negative consequences.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "Sell one's soul to the devil": The foundational idiom from which the adjective "Faustian" is derived.
  • Critics accused the artist of selling his soul to the devil for commercial success—a truly Faustian choice.
• "A deal with the devil": Another common phrase synonymous with a Faustian bargain.

Adjective

1. pertaining to or resembling or befitting Faust or Faustus especially in insatiably striving for worldly knowledge and power even at the price of spiritual values
   • a Faustian pact with the Devil