Meanings
From the medieval legend of Faust, who made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The story first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587),[1] which purported to contain tales about the life of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541). It was particularly popularized by two plays, Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of D. Faustus (first published 1604)[2] and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust (published 1808 and 1832).[3]
How to pronounce "Faustian bargain":
An agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits.
Example: "The university’s abandonment of its founding value of academic freedom in exchange for the corporation’s large financial contribution was a Faustian bargain."
A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences.
