Complete classic literature • Five-line readings • Clear US narration
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pale

adjective · noun · verb US /peɪl/

very light colored; highly diluted with white

How often you will meet it

Rank 693 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 27,392 times across 155,370 chapters — 0.013% of every word in the library.

It belongs to the first 1,000 words, the band worth learning before any other.

What it means

adjective

  1. very light colored; highly diluted with white pale seagreenpale blue eyes
  2. (of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble also: pallid, wan, sick the pale light of a half moona pale sun
  3. lacking in vitality or interest or effectiveness also: pallid a pale rendition of the ariapale prose with the faint sweetness of lavender
  4. abnormally deficient in color as suggesting physical or emotional distress also: pallid, wan the pallid face of the invalidher wan face suddenly flushed
  5. not full or rich high, pale, pure and lovely song

noun

  1. a wooden strip forming part of a fence also: picket

verb

  1. turn pale, as if in fear also: blanch, blench

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1

pale in real books

Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.

  • When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale.

    The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde · Chapter 1

  • Christian gathered herself up; her face grew pale again, and her voice steady.

    Christian's Mistake · Dinah Maria Mulock Craik · Chapter 1

  • In life they keep us frequently in tears; And in the cold grave leave us in pale fears.

    The White Devil · John Webster · Chapter 1

  • No more, aghast and pale, From Ostia's walls the crowd shall mark 335 The track of thy destroying bark.

    Narrative and Lyric Poems (first series) · O. J. [Annotator] Stevenson · Chapter 1

  • Humanity abhors the assailant of womanhood, and this charge upon the Negro at once placed him beyond the pale of human sympathy.

    The Red Record Tabulated Statistics · Ida B. Wells-Barnett · Chapter 1

Nearby in the frequency table

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