pale

¹ American  

[peyl] / peɪl /

adjective

• paler,
  comparative
• palest
  superlative

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.

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verb (used without object)

paled, paling

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 American  

[peyl] / peɪl /

noun

• pales
  plural

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 Irish Pale.  Also called English Pale.  a district in eastern Ireland included in the Angevin Empire of King Henry II and his successors.

   2. Also called Pale of Settlement.  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.

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verb (used with object)

paled, paling

1. to enclose with pales; fence.

2. to encircle or encompass.

idioms

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

   Their public comments are certainly beyond the pale.

pale ¹ British  

/ 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. a euphemism for White

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verb

1. to make or become pale or paler; blanch

2. to lose superiority or importance (in comparison to)

   her beauty paled before that of her hostess

pale ² British  

/ 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. outside the limits of social convention

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verb

1. (tr) to enclose with pales

pale More Idioms  

1. see beyond the pale.

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Synonym Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• paleness
  noun
• palely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pales
  plural

Adjectives

• paler
  comparative
• palest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of pale¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin pallidus pallid

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”; see origin at peel ³; see also pole ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

After a long summer in the pool and the bright sun, your favorite rainbow-colored beach swimsuit will probably end up pale and faded. Pale means "having little color." When something's light colored, you can describe it as pale, like a pale light shining in the kitchen at night, or a person's pale face when they're suffering from the flu. Pale is also a verb that means "to become pale," so you could say that you saw your friend's face pale at the news that her favorite bakery had gone out of business. Don't make the mistake of confusing pale with its homophone, pail, which means "bucket."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pale pales paler palest paled paling

An adult purple gallinule has a bright purple and green body with a pale blue marking that resembles a shield above its red and yellow bill.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

And those numbers pale in comparison to more-ubiquitous quick-service brands like McDonald’s, which operates 13,827 locations across the country, or Starbucks, with 16,875.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

Croteau looked around to see people holding their pale faces in their hands, fighting the urge to vomit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

It's a similar sight in south Wiltshire where the usually green rolling fields surrounding the ancient stone circle at Stonehenge have become almost as pale as the path around the prehistoric site.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

He wasn’t scared of her exactly, but there was something severe in her pale green eyes that made Danny sit up straighter and brush his hair away from his eyes.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

Even with Wednesday's jump, growth in the company's share price has trailed other chip companies in recent months and pales in comparison to the stratospheric leaps in 2023 that followed the launch of ChatGPT.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

In the mid-16th century, however, Spanish conquistadors had defeated the Incas in Bolivia, and the Sapa Inca’s size pales in comparison with the figures in the painting’s lower third.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

But this strategy pales in comparison to what’s possible with the newest legislation.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026

Matthew Murphy, representing Stewart Jones, said his client had showed "genuine, wholehearted remorse" but his financial gain "pales in comparison".

From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026

“Perhaps today pales in comparison to the fun I had at the ball last night.”

From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas

Symptoms can include jaundice, itchy skin, darker pee, paler poo, unexplained weight loss, tiredness and high temperature.

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

Whisk the yolks and lemon juice in the bowl until they've slightly changed color, to something a bit paler, and there's some clear froth.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2025

By then, Thyri, paler than usual, couldn’t crawl or stand up on her own, James said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2024

Interviewed this week at the Manhattan offices of his longtime publisher, Random House, he is thinner, paler, scarred and blind in his right eye.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2024

In real life she was a little paler and a little smaller than the picture suggested, but of course Basta still recognized her.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

“It was important to figure out where those bright pinks would live alongside our palest, pastel pink and, of course, every tone of pink in between,” Gerwig says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2024

These cookies bake to a beautiful toasty color and are topped with an artful smear of the palest pastel icing that is lightning-fast to whip up.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2022

They sound almost like characters in a fairy tale when the narrator claims, “The faintest hint of affection, the palest expression of warmth, was enough to make each Oppenheimer triplet recoil.”

From Washington Post ● May 31, 2022

Forty years after my father’s interrogation I find myself following the palest of imprints of his journey, though with none of his courage, or certainty, and none of the risk.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 27, 2019

Too early even to do my chores, I drank the coffee black, sitting on my steps, watching the sky blush the palest pink.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

OpenAI’s talent, funding and scientific papers paled in comparison to Google.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

But the shock of that request paled in comparison to another number.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026

Back then, IBM certainly wouldn’t have hired weird longish-haired geeks like Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who were working with chintzy little microprocessors that paled in comparison with IBM’s mighty mainframes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 18, 2026

But the harm caused by those excesses, Jacoby said, paled in comparison to the good that had been done by opening up the legal system to everyday people.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026

Their faces paled with dread before Athena, and swords dropped from their hands unnerved, to lie strewing the ground, at the great voice of the goddess.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Even Marvel has recently seen lower box office results for its films — despite critical praise, “Thunderbolts*” grossed about $382 million worldwide on a budget of $180 million, paling in comparison to past films.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025

What, you might ask, prompted this remark from the paling former personality?

From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2023

But each of those fines was for just $6,949, paling in comparison to what Metcalf received for the incident with Baynes, and speaking to how the NFL views any verbal offenses directed at officials.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2022

Free agency is in its infancy in MLS, paling in the impact and intrigue that grips the NBA, NFL and MLB.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2019

Every now and then I would grab the paling of one of the picket fences lining the street to steady myself against the wind.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson