FADE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fade mean? 

• FADE (noun)
  The noun FADE has 2 senses:

1. a golf shot that curves to the right for a right-handed golfer

2. gradually ceasing to be visible

  Familiarity information: FADE used as a noun is rare.

• FADE (verb)
  The verb FADE has 4 senses:

1. become less clearly visible or distinguishable; disappear gradually or seemingly

2. lose freshness, vigor, or vitality

3. disappear gradually

4. become feeble

  Familiarity information: FADE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FADE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A golf shot that curves to the right for a right-handed golfer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

fade; slice; slicing

Context example:

he took lessons to cure his slicing

Hypernyms ("fade" is a kind of...):

golf shot; golf stroke; swing (the act of swinging a golf club at a golf ball and (usually) hitting it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Gradually ceasing to be visible

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

disappearance; fade

Hypernyms ("fade" is a kind of...):

conclusion; ending; termination (the act of ending something)

Derivation:

fade (become less clearly visible or distinguishable; disappear gradually or seemingly)

• FADE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fade    ... he / she / it fades   
Past simple: faded   
Past participle: faded   
-ing form: fading   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become less clearly visible or distinguishable; disappear gradually or seemingly

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

fade; melt

Context example:

The tree trunks are melting into the forest at dusk

Hypernyms (to "fade" is one way to...):

weaken (become weaker)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

fade (gradually ceasing to be visible)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lose freshness, vigor, or vitality

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

fade; wither

Context example:

Her bloom was fading

Hypernyms (to "fade" is one way to...):

disappear; go away; vanish (get lost, as without warning or explanation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

fading (weakening in force or intensity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Disappear gradually

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

blow over; evanesce; fade; fleet; pass; pass off

Context example:

The pain eventually passed off

Hypernyms (to "fade" is one way to...):

disappear; go away; vanish (get lost, as without warning or explanation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 4

Meaning:

Become feeble

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

fade; languish

Context example:

The prisoner has been languishing for years in the dungeon

Hypernyms (to "fade" is one way to...):

degenerate; deteriorate; devolve; drop (grow worse)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

fading (weakening in force or intensity)

 Context examples 

I do not understand Lucy's fading away as she is doing.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

When Swift mission turned to the galaxy shortly after Fermi’s gamma-ray burst detection, it found a bright and quickly fading ultraviolet (UV) source.

(NASA Missions Catch First Light from a Gravitational-Wave Event, NASA)

And now, as I close my task, subduing my desire to linger yet, these faces fade away.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is predicted to brighten to about magnitude 11, when it could be visible in small optical telescopes for one or two nights before it fades as the distance from Earth rapidly increases.

(Asteroid to Fly Safely Past Earth on April 19, NASA)

Its spiral structure has mostly faded away, and its stellar inhabitants consist of old, red stars.

(Hubble Sees Plunging Galaxy Losing Its Gas, NASA)

In time, the unknown, as a thing of terror and menace ever impending, faded away.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In older people, they tend to fade away.

(Moles, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

It is followed by a maculopapular skin eruption in the extremities which eventually fades into a lacey pattern.

(Erythema Infectiosum, NCI Thesaurus)

It must have tried, too, the nerves of the red-faced man, for I have another picture which will never fade from my mind.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The river was shallow at that point, and two feet beneath the surface he could see the bottom dull-yellow in the fading light.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)