pale

pale-

Use pale in a sentence

A woman with a pale complexion.

adjective

The definition of pale is someone or something light in color or washed out.
1. An example of pale is your face when you are sick and the color goes from your cheeks.
2. An example of pale is a yellow that is not bright or vibrant.

verb

To pale is to lose the color from your face.
An example of pale is when you see a ghost and the fright makes you lose color in your face so it appears white and afraid.

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"pale." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/pale>.

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pale. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/pale

pale

adjective

pal′er, pal′est

of a whitish or colorless complexion; pallid; wan
lacking intensity or brilliance: said of color, light, etc.; faint; dim
feeble; weak: a pale imitation

Origin of pale

Old French from Classical Latin pallidus, pale: see fallow

intransitive verb

paled, pal′ing

to become pale
to seem weaker or less important

to make pale

a narrow, upright, pointed stake used in fences; picket
a fence; enclosure; boundary; restriction: now chiefly fig.: outside the pale of the law, beyond the pale (of respectability)
a territory or district enclosed within bounds
Bot. a chaffy bract or scale; esp., a bract at the base of a floret of a composite flower
Heraldry a vertical band forming the middle third of a shield

Origin of pale

Middle English from Middle French pal from Classical Latin palus, a stake from Indo-European base an unverified form pak-, to fasten (as by ramming into the ground) from source Classical Greek passalos, a peg, stake, Classical Latin pax, peace

pale-

paleo-: used before a vowel

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MLA Style

"pale." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/pale>.

APA Style

pale. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/pale

pale

noun

A stake or pointed stick; a picket.
A fence enclosing an area.
The area enclosed by a fence or boundary.
a. A region or district lying within an imposed boundary or constituting a separate jurisdiction.
b. Pale The medieval dominions of the English in Ireland. Used with the.
Heraldry A wide vertical band in the center of an escutcheon.

transitive verb

paled, pal·ing, pales

To enclose with pales; fence in.

Origin of pale

Middle English from Old French pal from Latin pālus ; see pag- in Indo-European roots.

pale1

adjective

pal·er, pal·est

Whitish in complexion; pallid.
a. Of a low intensity of color; light.
b. Having high lightness and low saturation.
Of a low intensity of light; dim or faint: “a late afternoon sun coming through the el tracks and falling in pale oblongs on the cracked, empty sidewalks” ( Jimmy Breslin )
Feeble; weak: a pale rendition of the aria.

verb

paled, pal·ing, pales

verb

transitive

To cause to turn pale.

verb

intransitive

To become pale; blanch: paled with fright.
To decrease in relative importance.

Origin of pale

Middle English from Old French from Latin pallidus from pallēre to be pale ; see pel-¹ in Indo-European roots.

Related Forms:

pale′ly
adverb

pale′ness
noun

pale-

prefix

Variant of paleo-

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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MLA Style

"pale." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/pale>.

APA Style

pale. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/pale

Adjective

(comparative paler, superlative palest)

Light in color.
I have pale yellow wallpaper.
She had pale skin because she didn't get much sunlight.
(of human skin) Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.).
His face turned pale after hearing about his mother's death.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present pales, present participle paling, simple past and past participle paled)

(intransitive) To turn pale; to lose colour.
(intransitive) To become insignificant.
2006 New York Times Its financing pales next to the tens of billions that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will have at its disposal...
To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.

Noun

(obsolete) Paleness; pallor.

Origin

From Middle English, from Old French pale, from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid").

Noun

(plural pales)

A wooden stake; a picket.
(archaic) Fence made from wooden stake; palisade.
(by extension) Limits, bounds (especially before of).
The bounds of morality, good behaviour or judgment in civilized company, in the phrase beyond the pale.
(heraldry) A vertical band down the middle of a shield.
(archaic) A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction.
1. (historical) The parts of Ireland under English jurisdiction.
2. (historical) The territory around Calais under English control (from the 14th to 16th centuries).
3. (historical) A portion of Russia in which Jews were permitted to live.
(archaic) The jurisdiction (territorial or otherwise) of an authority.
A cheese scoop.
A shore for bracing a timber before it is fastened.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present pales, present participle paling, simple past and past participle paled)

To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off.
[Your isle, which stands] ribbed and paled in / With rocks unscalable and roaring waters. "” Shakespeare.

Anagrams

leap, peal, plea

Origin

From Middle English, from Latin pÄlus (“stake, prop").

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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Link to this page

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MLA Style

"pale." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 05 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/pale>.

APA Style

pale. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/pale

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