Audio Help [feyz] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, phased, phas·ing. | 1. | any of the major appearances or aspects in which a thing of varying modes or conditions manifests itself to the eye or mind. |
| 2. | a stage in a process of change or development: Each phase of life brings its own joys. |
| 3. | a side, aspect, or point of view: This is only one phase of the question. |
| 4. | a state of synchronous operation: to put two mechanisms in phase. |
| 5. | Astronomy.
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| 6. | Zoology. color phase. |
| 7. | Chemistry. a mechanically separate, homogeneous part of a heterogeneous system: the solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of a system. |
| 8. | Physics. a particular stage or point of advancement in a cycle; the fractional part of the period through which the time has advanced, measured from some arbitrary origin often expressed as an angle (phase angle), the entire period being taken as 360°. |
| 9. | to schedule or order so as to be available when or as needed. |
| 10. | to put in phase; synchronize: to phase one mechanism with another. |
| 11. | phase down, to reduce by gradual stages. |
| 12. | phase in, to put or come into use gradually; incorporate by degrees: to phase in new machinery. |
| 13. | phase out, to bring or come to an end gradually; ease out of service: to phase out obsolescent machinery. |
—Related forms
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
phase
To learn more about phase visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| phase
Audio Help (fāz) Pronunciation Key
n.
tr.v. phased, phas·ing, phas·es
Phrasal Verb(s): phase in To introduce, one stage at a time. phase out To bring or come to an end, one stage at a time. Idiom(s): in phase In a correlated or synchronized way. Idiom(s): out of phase In an unsynchronized or uncorrelated way. [Back-formation from New Latin phasēs, phases of the moon, from Greek phaseis, pl. of phasis, appearance, from phainein, to show; see bhā-1 in Indo-European roots.] pha'sic (fā'zĭk) adj. Synonyms: These nouns refer to a particular or possible way of viewing something, such as an object or a process: Phase refers to a stage or period of change or development: "A phase of my life was closing tonight, a new one opening tomorrow" (Charlotte Brontë). |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
phase
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| phase | |
noun | |
| 1. | any distinct time period in a sequence of events; "we are in a transitional stage in which many former ideas must be revised or rejected" |
| 2. | (physical chemistry) a distinct state of matter in a system; matter that is identical in chemical composition and physical state and separated from other material by the phase boundary; "the reaction occurs in the liquid phase of the system" |
| 3. | a particular point in the time of a cycle; measured from some arbitrary zero and expressed as an angle |
| 4. | (astronomy) the particular appearance of a body's state of illumination (especially one of the recurring shapes of the part of Earth's moon that is illuminated by the sun); "the full phase of the moon" |
verb | |
| 1. | arrange in phases or stages; "phase a withdrawal" |
| 2. | adjust so as to be in a synchronized condition; "he phased the intake with the output of the machine" |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
phase1 [feiz] noun
Example: We are entering a new phase in the war.
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Example: the phases of the moon
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
phase
Audio Help (fāz) Pronunciation Key
|
| The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
phase
1. The offset of one's waking-sleeping schedule with respect to the standard 24-hour cycle; a useful concept among people who often work at night and/or according to no fixed schedule. It is not uncommon to change one's phase by as much as 6 hours per day on a regular basis. "What's your phase?" "I've been getting in about 8 P.M. lately, but I'm going to wrap around to the day schedule by Friday." A person who is roughly 12 hours out of phase is sometimes said to be in "night mode". (The term "day mode" is also (but less frequently) used, meaning you're working 9 to 5 (or, more likely, 10 to 6).) The act of altering one's cycle is called "changing phase"; "phase shifting" has also been recently reported from Caltech.
2. "change phase the hard way": To stay awake for a very long time in order to get into a different phase.
3. "change phase the easy way": To stay asleep, etc. However, some claim that either staying awake longer or sleeping longer is easy, and that it is *shortening* your day or night that is really hard (see wrap around). The "jet lag" that afflicts travelers who cross many time-zone boundaries may be attributed to two distinct causes: the strain of travel per se, and the strain of changing phase. Hackers who suddenly find that they must change phase drastically in a short period of time, particularly the hard way, experience something very like jet lag without travelling.
| The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe |
Phase
Em"pha*sis\, n.; pl. Emphases. [L., fr. Gr. ? significance, force of expression, fr. ? to show in, indicate; ? in + ? to show. See In, and Phase.]1. (Rhet.) A particular stress of utterance, or force of voice, given in reading and speaking to one or more words whose signification the speaker intends to impress specially upon his audience. The province of emphasis is so much more important than accent, that the customary seat of the latter is changed, when the claims of emphasis require it. --E. Porter. 2. A peculiar impressiveness of expression or weight of thought; vivid representation, enforcing assent; as, to dwell on a subject with great emphasis. External objects stand before us . . . in all the life and emphasis of extension, figure, and color. --Sir W. Hamilton.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Phase
Phase\, n. 1. (Phys. Chem.) A homogenous, physically distinct portion of matter in a system not homogeneous; as, the three phases, ice, water, and aqueous vapor. A phase may be either a single chemical substance or a mixture, as of gases. 2. (Zo["o]l.) In certain birds and mammals, one of two or more color variations characteristic of the species, but independent of the ordinary seasonal and sexual differences, and often also of age. Some of the herons which appear in white and colored phases, and certain squirrels which are sometimes uniformly blackish instead of the usual coloration, furnish examples. Color phases occur also in other animals, notably in butterflies. 3. (Elec.) The relation at any instant of a periodically varying electric magnitude, as electro-motive force, a current, etc., to its initial value as expressed in factorial parts of the complete cycle. It is usually expressed in angular measure, the cycle beb four right angles, or 360[deg]. Such periodic variations are generally well represented by sine curves; and phase relations are shown by the relative positions of the crests and hollows of such curves. Magnitudes which have the same phase are said to be in phase.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Phase
Phase\, v. t. [Cf. Feeze.] To disturb the composure of; to disconcert; to nonplus. [Colloq.]| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
PHASE
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