faded
Americanadjective
-
having lost brightness, intensity, volume, etc., as of light, color, or sound.
She was wearing a faded polyester skirt.
-
having lost freshness, vigor, strength, or health.
Regular removal of faded flowers is often needed to keep annuals blooming.
-
having gradually disappeared or died out.
The movie’s main theme is the resuscitation of faded love.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of faded
Explanation
Faded things have lost the bright color they once had. Your faded jeans, once dark blue but now pale and worn, might be your favorite thing to wear. Clothes become faded after being worn and washed again and again, and in many places the landscape itself seems faded in the wintertime, all dull grays and pale browns. Strength, energy, or vitality can also become faded, like a boxer toward the end of a long match. The Old French root of faded is fader, "become weak," from fade, "weak, pale, or insipid."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This coordinated approach allowed astronomers to study brief astronomical phenomena before they faded from view.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026
The party sat out the 1933 election and faded into obscurity, though it formed a coalition government with the Liberals in 1945 and won a few seats in the 1970s and 1980s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
The hashtag has faded since then, but not because of a lack of interest.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2026
The process recalls versioning in dub, where an existing recording is stripped down and reconstructed, its individual elements isolated, amplified or faded out entirely.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
“After their visits to these magical lands, the children returned with memories. Then, as adults, those memories faded and became dreams. Some wrote about the things they’d seen and experienced.”
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
