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If you're hazy on faze, let us filter out the fuzz. Faze (not to be confused with phase) first appeared in English in the early 1800s with the same meaning we give it today: to disturb the composure of. Its appearance came centuries after the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer were penned, but both of those authors were familiar with the word's ancient parent, the now-rare verb feeze, which has been in use since the days of Old English (in the form fēsian), when it meant "to drive away" or "to put to flight." By the 1400s, it was also being used with the meaning "to frighten or put into a state of alarm," a sense close to that of the modern faze. While it is possible to use faze in constructions like "I felt fazed by the prospect of starting at a new school," it more often appears with negation, as in "it didn’t faze her a bit” or “nothing fazes him."
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Phase and Faze
Phase and faze are homophones (words pronounced alike but different in meaning, derivation, or spelling) that may easily be confused. Despite the similarity in pronunciation, these words bear little semantic resemblance to one another.
Although phase can function as a verb – it is found especially in combinations such as phase out, phase in, and phase into, meaning “to end, begin, etc. in phases” – the word is most commonly encountered as a noun, in which it typically carries a meaning related to steps in a process, cycles, or stages of development (as in “phases of the moon”).
Faze is generally used only as a verb, and means “to daunt or disconcert.” It often appears in negative expressions such as “it didn’t faze her a bit” or “nothing fazes him.”
Synonyms
Examples of faze in a Sentence
Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 10 Nov. 2024
And he isn’t fazed by those who challenge his relative inexperience.
—Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 19 Oct. 2024
Jokes aside, Honeywell wasn’t fazed, throwing two more scoreless innings.
—Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2024
Shein similarly does not seem fazed by the announcement.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 13 Sep. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Faze.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faze. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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