fade

verb

\ ˈfād

faded; fading

Definition of fade

(Entry 1 of 3)

intransitive verb

1 : to lose freshness, strength, or vitality : wither fading flowers

2 : to lose freshness or brilliance of color The fabrics faded in the strong sunshine.

3 : to sink away : vanish a fading memory The smile faded from his face.

4 : to change gradually in loudness, strength, or visibility —used of a motion-picture image or of an electronics signal and usually with in or out One scene fades out as the next scene fades in.The radio signal faded out as we got further away from the station.

5 of an automobile brake : to lose braking power gradually

6 : to move back from the line of scrimmage —used of a quarterback

7 of a ball or shot : to move in a slight to moderate slice

transitive verb

: to cause to fade time has not completely faded the humor of these verses— G. H. Genzmer

fade

noun

Definition of fade (Entry 2 of 3)

1a : fade-out

b : a gradual changing of one picture to another in a motion-picture or television sequence

2 : a fading of an automobile brake

3 : a slight to moderate and usually intentional slice in golf

4 : a hairstyle similar to a crew cut in which the hair on top of the head stands high

fade

adjective

\ ˈfäd

Definition of fade (Entry 3 of 3)

: insipid, commonplace

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Examples of fade in a Sentence

Verb

The flowers were fading in the vase. the fading light of late afternoon She was fading fast from the effects of the pneumonia. We watched the ship gradually fade from view as it sailed away. The smile faded from his face. Hopes for a quick end of the crisis are fading fast. Their reasons for leaving have faded from memory. He's trying to recapture the faded glory of his youth. The band's popularity has faded in recent years. The fabric will fade unless you protect it from the sunlight.

Noun

The movie ends with a fade to black.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Bulky sneakers are starting to fade, oversize garments, and logomania. — Mark Holgate, Vogue, "What Sold for Men in 2018: Tailoring’s Back, Pants Are the New Sneakers, and the Logo Is Still Big (for Now)," 18 Dec. 2018 Once a technology is commercially available, my interest starts to fade. — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, "Conservation of energy used to parallelize quantum key distribution," 17 Dec. 2018 But that benefit has started to fade away with the recent Fed increases, which have finally prompted depositors to demand more in interest. — Sam Goldfarb, WSJ, "Investor Anxiety Outweighs Good Economic Data in Market Rout," 5 Dec. 2018 Dibbits said the painting has been retouched many other times in the past and that the later additions are starting to fade. — Mike Corder, The Seattle Times, "Rembrandt’s Night Watch to get restoration in Amsterdam," 16 Oct. 2018 Once class started, my racing thoughts—worry about what others would think, fretting about what was (or wasn’t) happening in my life—started to fade into the background. — Matt Ortile, SELF, "Whenever My Life Feels Out of Control, I Go to Ballet Class," 16 Aug. 2018 On the flip side, as the big man era has faded, Howard has been passed around the league. — Candace Buckner, Houston Chronicle, "Ex-Rocket Dwight Howard officially signs with Wizards," 13 July 2018 Finding the bodies is becoming harder, as memories fade, and graves are not always protected. — The Economist, "NGOs in Lebanon want to dig up mass graves from the civil war," 5 July 2018 As the rumble of gas engines fades, lightsaber-like whooshes of electric cars and bike bells enter into ear shot. — Diana Budds, Curbed, "The future of urban mobility will be shaped by these six issues," 18 Dec. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

So when the boom drops in the poignant finale, with its haunting fade to black, the symphony’s expressive course registers all the more keenly. — Joshua Kosman, SFChronicle.com, "CD review: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6," 20 June 2018 Change-up had a lot of fade, a lot of action today. — George Sipple, Detroit Free Press, "Another no-hit bid for Francisco Liriano ends in another Detroit Tigers loss," 20 May 2018 Four plays later, Manning lofted a fade to Burress in the end zone. — Ben Shpigel, New York Times, "They Were Super Bowl Heroes. And Then, in a Blink, They Weren’t.," 1 Feb. 2018 The Hi-Top Fade For one model with natural textured hair, Malige drew from the '80s hi-top fade made famous by supermodel Grace Jones and hip-hop fixtures like Big Daddy Kane. — Lauren Valenti, Vogue, "Hedi Slimane Just Served Up 6 Radical Haircuts Worth Stealing from His Male Cast at Céline," 29 Sep. 2018 Knowing an American League West rival was celebrating in their building, well, that was a poetic and somewhat fitting moment after a late-season fade that was as bad as any of their 100-loss seasons. — Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times, "It’s a celebration at Safeco Field, but visiting A’s enjoy all the fun of making playoffs," 24 Sep. 2018 Having a platinum blonde base is also key to a true-to-tone fade. — Devon Abelman, Allure, "How to Achieve the Bold Green Hair-Color Trend Like a Celebrity," 29 Aug. 2018 One of the biggest reasons why green hair took longer than other rainbow hues to gain popularity is its fade. — Devon Abelman, Allure, "How to Achieve the Bold Green Hair-Color Trend Like a Celebrity," 29 Aug. 2018 The retail team, which had far more employees, watched its importance fade and money funneled into projects like Amazon Web Services and Alexa. — Spencer Soper, latimes.com, "Amazon began automating warehouses a while ago. Now its machines get desk jobs too," 13 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fade.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for fade

Verb

Middle English, from Anglo-French *fader, from fade feeble, insipid, from Vulgar Latin *fatidus, alteration of Latin fatuus fatuous, insipid

Noun

derivative of fade entry 1

Adjective

Middle English, from Anglo-French

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Statistics for fade

Last Updated

2 Jan 2019

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Time Traveler for fade

The first known use of fade was in the 14th century

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More Definitions for fade

fade

noun

Financial Definition of fade

What It Is

A fade is an investment strategy devoted to doing the opposite of the prevailing wisdom. In the brokerage sector, it also refers to a dealer's inability or refusal to fill an order at the prevailing bid/ask spread the dealer has published (that is, the dealer "fades" from trading).

How It Works

Fade investors love to do what's out of favor. They tend to buy when everyone else is selling, sell when everyone else is buying, and wait when everyone else is active. The result is that the contrarian often buys a cheap security that everyone else is calling a dog and sells a security that everyone else is clamoring to get into.

Fade investors often look for stocks with low price-to-earnings ratios. When the market goes up, they sometimes prefer value stocks to growth stocks; when the market goes down, they often favor growth stocks over value stocks.

The Dogs of the Dow strategy is a popular fade strategy whereby investors purchase the highest-yielding stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Remember, a stock has to pay a relatively high dividend and have a relatively low stock price to have a high dividend yield. When any of the investor's stocks rise in price so much that they are no longer one of the ten highest dividend-yield stocks, he sells them, capturing the gain and reinvesting the proceeds in the newest "dog."

Why It Matters

Fade investors zig when everyone else zags. They have strong stomachs, a sense of independence, and an ability to resist the temptations of going with the crowd. That can mean picking up a few dogs, and that can mean sticking with a stock if it has become a dog. Fade investors are not always right, but the philosophy has attracted many happy investors over the years. Even Burton Malkiel, who developed the random walk theory, which says there is no reliable way to beat the market in the long run, acknowledges that contrarian strategies can be successful. They tend to outperform other trading strategies because market reversals are often based on economic facts rather than investor psychology.

It is important to note that fade investing often works best for investors who have thoroughly analyzed the fundamentals of the companies they invest in. Companies with solid management teams, innovative products, efficient processes and good profit margins can often weather being unpopular with the crowd.

Source: Investing Answers

fade

verb