(Source)

From Futurama:

Fry: "If I could just learn to play this stupid thing!"

Bender: "Oh, but you can! Though you metaphorically may have to make a deal with the devil... and by 'metaphorically,' I mean get your coat."

They're about to make a Faustian deal: the devil will grant Fry a superhuman degree of musicianship, allowing him to woo the love of his life... but at what cost? His integrity, somehow. That's always how these Faustian bargains go.

As we'll see in a second, the word Faustian is rooted in literature. So are the other proper adjectives below. See how many you can recall:

1. Something Br_______gian is gigantic, a reference to a novel by Jonathan Swift.

2. Something Pan____ian is ridiculously optimistic, a reference to a novel by Voltaire.

3. Someone Pod___ian is smug and self-satisfied in their wealth and privilege, a reference to a novel by Charles Dickens.

4. Something Ozy____an is enormous, impressive, and self-important, yet temporary and doomed to decay just like everything else, a reference to a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

5. Something Tral______rian shows a peaceful attitude of acceptance toward death and destiny, or it seems to zip around in time, or ut seems to understand or express everything all at the same time, a reference to a handful of novels by Kurt Vonnegut.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

Johann Faust (c1480–c1538) was, probably, a real German person. Sometimes he's described as a magician, an alchemist, or an astrologer.

After Faust's death, he became a character in legends and other literature. As the story often goes, he's unhappy with his life, so he sells his soul to the devil in exchange for worldly pleasures. It doesn't go well.

So, Faustian things are the kind that involve making a deal with the devil, so to speak. They involve doing something terrible, paying a terrible price, or sacrificing your own moral goodness in exchange for fame, wealth, or success of some kind—which often ends in disaster.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective, the proper kind, so you capitalize it: "this Faustian main character;" "a Faustian bargain."

Other forms: 

You could call someone a Faust to emphasize that they're selling their soul.

how to use it:

Pick the harsh, dramatic, semi-common, literary term Faustian to describe people's greedy, immoral actions.

You might talk about Faustian deals and bargains, Faustian bets and wagers, Faustian exchanges and compromises, or Faustian plots and downfalls.

When you do, your tone might be serious and judgmental. Or playful: "Those cheesy biscuits at Red Lobster are amazing. I'd pay a Faustian price to be able to bake them at home."

examples:

"[In "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," a research scientist develops a miracle Alzheimer drug with unforeseen side effects.] The actors play the archetypal characters completely straight. But apparently none of these people have ever seen this kind of movie before, and are utterly baffled when their Faustian bargain goes bad."
— Andrew O'Hehir, Salon, 3 August 2011

"All drugs are double-edged swords... antibiotics happen to be especially two-faced, with benefits and risks intertwined so closely that using them courts disasters large and small — and so, of course, does not using them. Welcome to the Faustian Rubik's cube in medicine cabinets all over the world."
— Abigail Zuger, New York Times, 29 October 2019

has this page helped you understand "Faustian"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "Faustian" without saying "greedy" or "morally bankrupt."

try it out:

While trying to get tickets to an extremely popular live show, a writer for the Washington Post noted that the ticket company would give her a better chance of securing the tickets if she would allow the company to access her social media accounts.

She "balked" at that, saying it "seemed like a Faustian deal."

In other words, to get what she wanted, the cost was morally steep: allowing a corporation to contact all of her friends and family.

With this situation in mind as an example, talk about something very expensive or otherwise out-of-reach that you'd very much like to have, and talk about what you would and wouldn't do to get it. What, for you, would make the deal a Faustian one?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Market That Makeup!"

Check out the names given to the shades in a palette, and decide what to call the shade with the missing name. You might channel the vibe established by the other shade names, or just pick the weirdest or most grandiloquent name you can think of. To see the shade's real name—the one that the marketing team picked—scroll all the way down. 

Try this one today:

Persona's "Identity Two" palette includes shades like "Honest," "Kind," "Loyal," "Driven," and "Limitless."

Invent a name for the shade on the bottom row, second from the left:

(Source)

review this word:

1. A near opposite of FAUSTIAN could be

A. ALTRUISTIC (unselfish: focused on taking care of other people).
B. MANICHAEAN (having or showing very simplistic black-and-white thinking).
C. PROCRUSTEAN (tending to cause terrible harm by forcing everything or everyone to be the same).

2. Carl Sagan described _____ as a Faustian story, which makes sense, as it centers on _____.

A. Animal Farm .. common workers rising up to seize control of their own lives
B. Jurassic Park .. one man seizing the power to resurrect dinosaurs, tossing caution to the wind, and ultimately bringing about his own death
C. Charlotte's Web .. an innocent animal fighting desperately to assert his own right to a full natural life

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. B Answer to the game question: Any name you chose is great! The company chose "resilient." (Source)

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.