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

After a bright start to the match, Howe would have been disappointed to see his side fade away and fail to create anything of note in the second half. — SI.com, "Bournemouth Premier League Month in Review: August - Best Player, Worst Performance & Overall Rating," 8 Sep. 2019 Modestly built, with fading red hair, blue eyes and a gravelly Midwestern accent, Smith has an amiable, self-effacing demeanor that belies his nine-figure wealth and intense work ethic. — Romesh Ratnesar/redmond, Time, "How Microsoft's Brad Smith is Trying to Restore Your Trust in Big Tech," 8 Sep. 2019 The control room in the city of Bengaluru filled with scientists underwent a visible change as updates from the lander faded. — Manveena Suri And Swati Gupta, CNN, "India's historic landing on moon's polar surface may have failed," 6 Sep. 2019 And although there’s a good bit of shared DNA with prep culture, the two terms aren’t entirely interchangeable; the grandmillennial is less Lilly Pulitzer, more faded D. Porthault. — Emma Bazilian, House Beautiful, "The Rise of 'Grandmillennial' Style," 5 Sep. 2019 There’s an old saying around these parts: fade Joe for dough. — Joseph Goodman, al, "Auburn is in for a fight; Shocking upset on tap for a national contender," 5 Sep. 2019 African-Americans and boys showed some sustained improvements in school attendance and classroom behavior, but the overall academic benefits soon faded. — Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, "Other voices: Fund Pre-K for those who need it most," 5 Sep. 2019 But the itch to try his hand at football never faded. — Edward Lee, baltimoresun.com, "Maryland lacrosse’s Jared Bernhardt ‘missed’ football, which he will pursue next year," 31 Aug. 2019 Eventually, twin beds’ popularity among American adults more or less faded into obsolescence, Hinds writes; today, queens are the most popular mattress size purchased, according to Consumer Reports. — Alia Wong, The Atlantic, "The Ballad of the Twin XL Mattress," 31 Aug. 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

With third-and-goal inside the 1, the Steelers dialed up a low-percentage fade to the corner of the end zone, to a player, Donte Moncrief, in his first year on the roster. — Albert Breer, SI.com, "Eye-Opening Weekend: Lamar Jackson, Sammy Watkins, Dak Prescott and the Pats Light It Up," 9 Sep. 2019 Cantrell tossed a 12-yard fade to Hope in the end zone with 1:25 remaining for the final points. — Daniel Boyette, al, "James Clemens scores final 21 points to beat Bob Jones in Madison Bowl," 7 Sep. 2019 Tigers quarterback Bay Harvey tried to throw a fade toward the right pylon. — cleveland.com, "No. 24 Medina football stuns No. 12 Cleveland Heights, 21-10," 30 Aug. 2019 Another down moment came on a deep fade to Christian Kirk that was nowhere near the receiver. — Bob Mcmanaman, azcentral, "Kyler Murray daily report: Cardinals rookie deals with picks, miscommunication," 12 Aug. 2019 Meantime, Berman, learning Szeles was eager to be the subject of a documentary, connected with the performer and signed on to cover his tour and his life, perhaps through to its inevitable fade-out. — Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, "Review: ‘The Amazing Johnathan Documentary’ profiles irascible magician in an illusory way," 14 Aug. 2019 An offensive line in upheaval contributed greatly to the Aztecs’ fade. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Column: Baking, lacrosse-playing center Keith Ismael key for Aztecs football in 2019," 3 Aug. 2019 And for many of us, that marks the fade out of the warm weather. — Shalwah Evans, Essence, "12 Summer Nail Trends That Will Never Go Out Of Style," 31 July 2019 As interest from casual fans fades and season-ticket holders weigh the idea of renewing for the 2020 season, the Giants still have an obligation to try and entertain their customers. — Kerry Crowley, The Mercury News, "Five things the San Francisco Giants must do in July," 1 July 2019

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

12 Sep 2019

Look-up Popularity

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