fade-in

American  

[fayd-in] / ˈfeɪdˌɪn /

noun

• fade-ins
  plural

1. Movies, Television. a gradual increase in the visibility of a scene.

2. Broadcasting, Recording. a gradual increase in the volume of sound, especially of recorded or broadcast music, dialogue, or the like, usually starting from complete inaudibility.

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fade-in British  

noun

1. films an optical effect in which a shot appears gradually out of darkness

2. a gradual increase in the volume in a radio or television broadcast

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verb

1. Also: fade up. to increase or cause to increase gradually, as vision or sound in a film or broadcast

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fade-ins
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fade-in

First recorded in 1915–20; noun use of verb phrase fade in

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fade-in fade-ins

Like the Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week” and Yes’s “Roundabout,” the track begins with a fade-in, featuring Mr. Scholz playing a descending acoustic-guitar arpeggio.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

From first fade-in to final fadeout, Rock more than lives up to his name.

From Time Magazine Archive

Beginning with a fade-in of the tramp's a cappella singing, it slowly builds and swells, with new instruments constantly added to a basic string quintet.

From Time Magazine Archive

He doesn’t announce these shifts; there are no mysterious fade-ins, no portentously twirling camerawork.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2016

By 1938 another type of radio drama was in full flower, especially at CBS: the original radio script, with its narrators, its musical "bridges," its fade-outs, fade-ins, sound effects.

From Time Magazine Archive

The title seems to have been chosen to reflect its nonlinear, outwardly random structure, which in turn is apparently meant to evoke "time's fade-outs and fade-ins and cross-fades."

From Time Magazine Archive

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