Word.ws English Dictionary

phase

/feɪz/

phase noun: a distinguishable part of a sequence or cycle occurring over time. Also the alternative spelling of faze.

Noun

phase (plural phases)

  1. A distinguishable part of a sequence or cycle occurring over time.
    • It would have been a simple enough move to warn the firm, but Max Carrados's interest lay in the phase of crime rather than in forestalling it, and on that score he had little tangible as yet […]1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
  2. That which is exhibited to the eye; the appearance which anything manifests, especially any one among different and varying appearances of the same object.
  3. Any appearance or aspect of an object of mental apprehension or view.
    • The problem has many phases.
  4. A particular appearance or state in a regularly recurring cycle of changes with respect to quantity of illumination or form, or the absence, of a body's illuminated disk. Illustrated in Wikipedia's article Lunar phase.
    • the phases of the moon
  5. Any one point or portion in a recurring series of changes, as in the changes of motion of one of the particles constituting a wave or vibration; one portion of a series of such changes, in distinction from a contrasted portion, as the portion on one side of a position of equilibrium, in contrast with that on the opposite side.
  6. A component in a material system that is distinguished by chemical composition and/or physical state (solid, liquid or gas) and/or crystal structure. It is delineated from an adjoining phase by an abrupt change in one or more of those conditions.
  7. In certain organisms, one of two or more colour variations characteristic of the species, but independent of the ordinary seasonal and sexual differences, and often also of age.
  8. (rugby union) The period of play between consecutive breakdowns.
    • When Romania did manage to string together some phases midway through the first half, England's discipline held firm, although on the whole it was a less focused display from the Six Nations champions in the second half.2011 September 24, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania”, in BBC Sport
  9. A haplotype.
  10. The counterclockwise angle from the positive half of the real number line to the vector pointing to a complex number on an Argand diagram of the complex plane, which has the positive real line pointing right and the positive imaginary number line pointing up.
    Synonyms:
    argument
  11. A distortion caused by a difference in the speed of propagation for different frequencies
  12. In a polyphase electrical power system, one of the power-carrying conductors, or the alternating current carried by it.
    Synonyms:
    line conductor

Verb

phase (third-person singular simple present phases, present participle phasing, simple past and past participle phased)

  1. To begin—if construed with "in"—or to discontinue—if construed with out—(doing) something over a period of time (i.e. in phases).
    • The use of the obsolete machines was gradually phased out as the new models were phased in.
  2. (informal, transitive) To determine haplotypes in (data) when genotypes are known.
  3. To pass into or through a solid object.
    • Anyone who has lost their way in cyberspace—realizing they have just phased into what they had previously categorized as 'solid' matter—will understand this example.1997, P. Lunenfeld, “Hybrid Architectures and the Paradox of Unfolding”, in Intelligent Environments: Spatial Aspects of the Information Revolution, →ISBN, page 443
    • Archer took a deep breath and, steeling himself for the bizarre experience, carefully walked to the bulkhead and phased through.2004, Paul Ruditis, Star Trek: Enterprise: Shockwave, →ISBN, page 100
  4. To use a phaser.

Proper noun

phase

  1. (obsolete) Passover

Also used as

phase is also the alternative spelling of faze.

phase meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog and Arabic

phase in Hindi

distinguishable part of a sequence
चरण caraṇ
physics: point or portion in a recurring series of changes
प्रावस्था prāvasthā
chemistry: component in a material system
प्रावस्था prāvasthā

phase in Urdu

distinguishable part of a sequence
مَرْحَلَہ marhala

phase in Tagalog

distinguishable part of a sequence
yugto
astronomy: particular appearance or state in a regularly recurring cycle
yugto
physics: point or portion in a recurring series of changes
yugto

phase in Arabic

distinguishable part of a sequence
مَرْحَلَة marḥala
More languagesFewer languages
phase in Malay
fasa
phase in Indonesian
fase, wujud
phase in Persian
نمود nemud, اهله ahalle, فاشیش fâšiš, فاسیس fâsis
phase in Thai
ระยะ rá-yá, เฟส fèes, วัฏภาค wát-dtà-pâak
phase in Vietnamese
giai đoạn
phase in Myanmar
အဆင့် a.hcang.

Examples of phase in a sentence

  • Plans for the next phase include furnaces capable of inert atmospheres and partial vacuums.
  • Despite extensive simulation in the design phase, the aircraft failed to behave as expected.
  • They blueprinted every aspect of the first phase of the operation.

All 40 example sentences with phase

Synonyms of phase

Forms of phase

Noun
pluralphases
Verb
third-person singular presentphases
present participlephasing
past participlephased
pastphased
Proper noun
alternative formPhase

Past tense of phase: phased

Plural of phase: phases

Origin of phase

Borrowed from New Latin phasis, borrowed from Ancient Greek φάσις (phásis, “appearance”), from φᾰ(ν)- (phă(n)-, root of φαίνω (phaínō, “to bring to light; to appear”)) + -σῐς (-sĭs). Compare phantasm and see face.

From Latin phase (“passover”), Phasa, from Hebrew פָּסַח (pésach).

Words formed from phase

Phrases with phase

28 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with phase

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about phase

What does phase mean?
Phase means a distinguishable part of a sequence or cycle occurring over time.
What is phase in Hindi?
Phase in Hindi is चरण (caraṇ), प्रावस्था (prāvasthā). See Phase meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is phase?
Phase can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce phase?
Phase is pronounced /feɪz/.
What is the plural of phase?
The plural of phase is phases.

Words near phase in the dictionary

  1. phascolarctine
  2. phascolome
  3. phascolomes
  4. phascolosomatid
  5. phascolosomatids
  6. phase
  7. phase angle
  8. phase contrast microscope
  9. phase contrast microscopes
  10. phase contrast microscopy
  11. phase diagram

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: phase (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-phase.ogg.

Cite this entry: “phase.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/phase. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.