fade
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To grow weak.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
faydIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfeɪd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To grow weak; to lose strength; to decay; to perish gradually; to wither, as a plant.
Lose freshness, vigor, or vitality
intransitive
To lose freshness, color, or brightness; to become faint in hue or tint; hence, to be wanting in color.
intransitive
To sink away; to disappear gradually; to grow dim; to vanish.
transitive
To cause to fade.
noun
A haircut where the hair is short or shaved on the sides of the head and longer on top. See also high-top fade and low fade.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To grow weak; to lose strength; to decay; to perish gradually; to wither, as a plant.
Used this way, fade is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fade
- “The scene begins to fade.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to grow weak
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.