1. To gradually lose color, brightness, strength, or clarity, or cause something to do so.
2. A gradual change in an image or sound as it appears, disappears, or changes intensity.
3. A haircut with hair becoming progressively shorter toward the lower sides and back of the head.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- fading light
- a faded photograph
- a memory begins to fade
On the page
The names on the stone had faded, but the dates remained sharp.
Her anger faded long before she could bear to enter his room.
The director ended the funeral scene with a long fade to black.
A slow fade let the final note disappear into the room’s ordinary noise.
His fresh fade made the old photograph on the mantel seem suddenly remote.
Word forms
- Base
- fade
- Past tense
- faded
- Past participle
- faded
- Present participle
- fading
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- fade
- Present continuous
- am/is/are fading
- Present perfect
- have/has faded
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been fading
- Past
- faded
- Past continuous
- was/were fading
- Past perfect
- had faded
- Past perfect continuous
- had been fading
- Future
- will fade
- Future continuous
- will be fading
- Future perfect
- will have faded
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been fading
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Verb: fade, fades, faded, faded, fading; intransitive or transitive. Countable noun in audiovisual, haircut, and sporting uses: fade, fades. Fade away and fade out are usual combinations, not extra canonical entries here. Register: neutral. Commonness: common; specialized nouns less common (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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