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If you're hazy on faze, let us filter out the fuzz. Faze (not to be confused with phase) first appeared in English in the early 1800s with the same meaning we give it today: to disturb the composure of. Its appearance came centuries after the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer were penned, but both of those authors were familiar with the word's ancient parent, the now-rare verb feeze, which has been in use since the days of Old English (in the form fēsian), when it meant "to drive away" or "to put to flight." By the 1400s, it was also being used with the meaning "to frighten or put into a state of alarm," a sense close to that of the modern faze. While it is possible to use faze in constructions like "I felt fazed by the prospect of starting at a new school," it more often appears with negation, as in "it didn’t faze her a bit” or “nothing fazes him."
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Phase and Faze
Phase and faze are homophones (words pronounced alike but different in meaning, derivation, or spelling) that may easily be confused. Despite the similarity in pronunciation, these words bear little semantic resemblance to one another.
Although phase can function as a verb – it is found especially in combinations such as phase out, phase in, and phase into, meaning “to end, begin, etc. in phases” – the word is most commonly encountered as a noun, in which it typically carries a meaning related to steps in a process, cycles, or stages of development (as in “phases of the moon”).
Faze is generally used only as a verb, and means “to daunt or disconcert.” It often appears in negative expressions such as “it didn’t faze her a bit” or “nothing fazes him.”
Examples of faze in a Sentence
Theodore Schleifer, New York Times, 2 May 2025
But the sustained seismic activity didn’t faze wine writer Eleni Kefalopoulou, an Athens resident who visited Santorini to meet with wine producers at the start of March.
—Helen Iatrou, Travel + Leisure, 14 Mar. 2025
Paris Jackson isn't fazed by those who critique her sense of style.
—Escher Walcott, People.com, 8 Mar. 2025
This does not faze any of the 700 or so people who are seated on tiered wooden platforms in front of the film, shoulder to shoulder in a cavernous concrete auditorium, waiting for what comes next.
—P.e. Moskowitz, Vulture, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for faze
Cite this Entry
“Faze.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faze. Accessed 24 May. 2025.
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