pale

¹

[ peyl ]

adjective

, pal·er, pal·est.

1. (of a person or a person's skin)
   1. light-colored or lacking in color:

      a pale complexion; his pale face; a pale child.

   2. lacking the usual intensity of color due to fear, illness, stress, etc.:

      She looked pale and unwell when we visited her in the nursing home.

   Antonyms: ruddy

2. of a low degree of chroma, saturation, or purity; approaching white or gray:

   pale yellow.

3. not bright or brilliant; dim:

   the pale moon.

4. faint or feeble; lacking vigor:

   a pale protest.

verb (used without object)

, paled, pal·ing.

1. to become pale:

   to pale at the sight of blood.

   Synonyms: fade, whiten, blench, blanch

   Antonyms: deepen

2. to seem less important, remarkable, etc., especially when compared with something else:

   Platinum is so rare that even gold pales in comparison.

verb (used with object)

1. to make pale.

pale

²

[ peyl ]

noun

1. a stake or picket, as of a fence.
2. an enclosing or confining barrier; enclosure.
3. an enclosed area.
4. limits; bounds:

   outside the pale of his jurisdiction.

5. a district or region within designated bounds.
6. (initial capital letter)
   1. Also called Eng·lish Pale [ing, -glish , peyl],. a district in eastern Ireland included in the Angevin Empire of King Henry II and his successors.
   2. Also called Pale of Set·tle·ment [peyl, , uh, v , set, -l-m, uh, nt]. the territories in the Russian Empire in which Jews were allowed to live.
7. Heraldry. an ordinary in the form of a broad vertical stripe at the center of an escutcheon.
8. Shipbuilding. a shore used inside to support the deck beams of a hull under construction.

verb (used with object)

, paled, pal·ing.

1. to enclose with pales; fence.
2. to encircle or encompass.

pale

¹

/ peɪl /

adjective

1. lacking brightness of colour; whitish

   pale morning light

2. (of a colour) whitish; produced by a relatively small quantity of colouring agent
3. dim or wan

   the pale stars

4. feeble

   a pale effort

5. See White
   a euphemism for White

verb

1. to make or become pale or paler; blanch
2. introften foll bybefore to lose superiority or importance (in comparison to)

   her beauty paled before that of her hostess

pale

²

/ peɪl /

noun

1. a wooden post or strip used as an upright member in a fence
2. an enclosing barrier, esp a fence made of pales
3. an area enclosed by a pale
4. a sphere of activity within which certain restrictions are applied
5. heraldry an ordinary consisting of a vertical stripe, usually in the centre of a shield
6. beyond the pale
   beyond the pale outside the limits of social convention

verb

1. tr to enclose with pales

Derived Forms

• ˈpaleness, noun
• ˈpalely, adverb

Other Words From

• palely adverb
• paleness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pale¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin pallidus pallid none

Origin of pale²

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English pal(e), paele, from Old French pal, pel “stake,” from Latin pālus “wooden pole, wooden peg, stake”; peel ³; pole ¹( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of pale¹

C13: from Old French palle, from Latin pallidus pale, from pallēre to look wan

Origin of pale²

C14: from Old French pal, from Latin pālus stake; compare pole ¹

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. beyond the pale, beyond the limits of proper behavior, courtesy, protection, safety, etc.:

   Their public comments are certainly beyond the pale.

More idioms and phrases containing pale

see beyond the pale .

Synonym Study

Pale, pallid, wan imply an absence of color, especially from the human countenance. Pale implies a faintness or absence of color, which may be natural when applied to things, the pale blue of a violet, but when used to refer to the human face usually means an unnatural and often temporary absence of color, as arising from sickness or sudden emotion: pale cheeks. Pallid , limited mainly to the human countenance, implies an excessive paleness induced by intense emotion, disease, or death: the pallid lips of the dying man. Wan implies a sickly paleness, as after a long illness: wan and thin; the suggestion of weakness may be more prominent than that of lack of color: a wan smile.

Example Sentences

Better surface disinfection, however, increasingly pales next to worries about air quality on passenger flights.

From Fortune

Simon says the 2008 financial meltdown “pales in comparison” to the pandemic.

From Ozy

Though Encantos raised a fresh $2 million in January to expand, that cash influx pales in comparison to the budgets at top ed-tech companies Newsela and Coursera, which have each received more than $50 million in funding.

From Ozy

On the other hand, VR technologies perhaps only offer a pale imitation of the multi-sensory experiences of life.

From Singularity Hub 

The Genoa museum’s dead specimen is pale blue due to preservation, but it’s now known that the lizard’s natural color is mostly luminous green.

From Science News

“He turned pale, trembled to a great degree, was much agitated, and began to cry,” she told the court.

From The Daily Beast

The pale, baby-faced, red-cheeked rapper is furiously puffing away at a hastily-made blunt crammed with low-grade weed.

From The Daily Beast

But the flaws and peccadilloes of Renaissance artists like Michelangelo pale beside the misdeeds of patrons and pontiffs.

From The Daily Beast

Still, at each stage of jazz history certain kinds of sounds were beyond the pale.

From The Daily Beast

“I turned completely ashen, completely pale,” Beck remembers.

From The Daily Beast

Louis stood firm, though pale and respectful, before the resentful gaze of Elizabeth.

From Project Gutenberg

Babylas raised his pale face; he knew what was coming; it had come so many times before.

From Project Gutenberg

She observed his pale looks, and the distracted wandering of his eyes; but she would not notice either.

From Project Gutenberg

He returned shortly, to meet his mother standing in the doorway, with pale, affrighted face.

From Project Gutenberg

“You must leave this house this moment,” she cried, with a stamp, with gleaming eyes and very pale.

From Project Gutenberg