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

On my recent rereading of “The Secret Garden,” I was delighted by the moment when Mary, initially pale and peevish and uninterested in her breakfast, begins wandering the grounds with a jump rope in hand.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

Market rents in New York City have surged to record highs in recent years, and median wage increases for renters pale in comparison.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

But any lift in stock price will likely pale in comparison to its downward trajectory over the past eight years.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

AI skills are in growing demand, but they pale in comparison to what employers say they value most.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026

That job done, he turned and looked around the dimly lit room, his blue eyes flashing in a pale frightened face.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Released months after “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” this occasionally ill-advised foray into psychedelia pales in comparison to the Beatles’ masterpiece.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 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

However, this all pales in comparison to prime-aged fathers who have participation rates that frequently approach and surpass 95%, irrespective of their child’s age.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

The sky pales, casting the jagged peaks of the mountains around me in shadow.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

He withholds his approval to keep the paler, smaller man anxious.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 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

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

As the conflict wore on, people began to look thinner and paler, due to the scarcity of food and drink as little aid was reaching the city.

From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2024

He was taller than when he had left, paler and bonier, and he showed the first symptoms of resistance to nostalgia.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“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

She tried on a jacket in palest pink.

From New York Times ● Aug. 23, 2022

In recent years, winemakers have responded to a market that clamors for the palest of pale pinks to drink the year after harvest.

From Washington Post ● May 6, 2021

Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town.

From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

Microsoft Azure’s 39% cloud growth in the fourth quarter paled in comparison to Google Cloud’s 48% growth, and investors were displeased by Microsoft’s decision to allocate more computing power to internal projects.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 24, 2026

While it drew in 6.1 million concurrent viewers, that number paled in comparison to the 135 million viewers who tuned in to Bad Bunny’s halftime show, according to initial reports from NBC and CBS News.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026

The world- and local-premiere efforts paled in comparison.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025

Davidson said the U.S. reaction to revelations from the Epstein files has paled in comparison to moves made in the United Kingdom, where the former Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal titles.

From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2025

But the lecture and this small sampling paled in comparison to the main event of our chemical-agents education—the practical class.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

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

He raised his face to the paling day.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy