shade

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

shayd

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈʃeɪd

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

uncountable
Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.
countable
Something that blocks light, particularly in a window.
countable
A variety of a color, in particular one obtained by adding black.
figuratively
A subtle variation in a concept.
A subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
A very small degree of a quantity, or variety of meaning

verb

Protect from light, heat, or view
“Shade your eyes when you step out into the bright sunlight.”
transitive
To shield (someone or something) from light.
transitive
To alter slightly.
intransitive
To vary or approach something slightly, particularly in color.
transitive
To darken, particularly in drawing.
To win by a narrow margin.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency: Moderately Common
Typical Use: General and technical use

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.

Used this way, shade is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
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 shade

“It is much cooler in the shade.”noun
“After several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted.”noun
“An achievement that puts everything else in the shade.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Darkness / blocks

deep shade

Small

some shade

Postage

partial shade

Other combinations

shade treecool shadegreen shade

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

shadesnounPlural form
Something that reminds you of someone or something.
shadedadjectiveInflected form
Protected from heat and light with shade or shadow.
shadingnounInflected form
Graded markings that indicate light or shaded areas in a drawing or painting.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

shade offverbCompound term
Cast a shadow over.
shade treenounCompound term
A tree planted or valued chiefly for its shade from sunlight.
lamp shadenounCompound term
A protective ornamental covering for a lamp, used to screen a light bulb from direct view.
window shadenounCompound term
An opaque window blind that can cover or uncover a window.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

shadownounRelated term
Shade within clear boundaries.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: darkness where light or particularly sunlight or is blocked

shadow

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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.