shade

plural shades

1. uncountableDarkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.

   The old oak tree gave shade in the heat of the day.

   2 more examples

   Temps rose to a sweltering 40 degrees Celsius in the shade.

   Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet:[…].

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

2. countableSomething that blocks light, particularly in a window.

   Close the shade, please: it's too bright in here.

   1 more example

   Also, people with darker skin tend to have lower blood levels of vitamin D because the pigment (melanin) acts like a shade, reducing production of vitamin D (and also reducing damaging effects of sunlight on skin, including skin cancer).

   2023 March 28, “Vitamin D”, in Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

3. countableA variety of a color, in particular one obtained by adding black (compare tint).

   I've painted my room in five lovely shades of pink and chartreuse.

   2 more examples

   Thus light and colours, as white, red, yellow, blue, with their several degrees or shades, and mixtures, as green, scarlet, purple, sea-green, and the rest, come in only by the eyes[…]

   1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC

   Speaking of round sunglasses, these lightweight polarized ones and come in two shades of tortoiseshell as well as black and bronze.

   2023 June 26, Lauren Caruso and Jillian Tracy, “The 22 best sunglasses for summer, according to style experts”, in CNN

4. countablefigurativelyuncountableA subtle variation in a concept.

   shades of meaning

   3 more examples

   new shades and combinations of thought

   1823, Thomas De Quincey, Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected. No. V. On the English Notices of Kant

   Every shade of religious and political opinion had its own headquarters.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   These performances, which include plenty of great one-liners and physical gags but also unearth subtler shades of frustration and self-doubt, are some of my favorites of hers.

   2026 January 30, Judy Berman, “Catherine O’Hara Portrayed the Vain and Delusional With a Radical Lack of Vanity”, in TIME, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2026

5. countablefigurativelyin pluraluncountableAn aspect that is reminiscent of something.

   shades of Groucho Marx

6. countableuncountableA very small degree of a quantity, or variety of meaning

   That is a shade too close.

   2 more examples

   Mrs. Rhodes who (so I gathered from Mr. Petherick's careful language) was perhaps just a shade of a hypochondriac, had retired to bed immediately after dinner.

   1934, Agatha Christie, Miss Marple Tells a Story

   Five feet in diameter and a shade above knee high, the center of the fragile white canvass structure is filled with […]

   1990 April 7, Wickie Stamps, “The 'Temple' Is Familiar”, in Gay Community News, page 12

7. countableliteraryuncountablefantasyA ghost or specter; a spirit.

   The adventurer was attacked by a shade.

   4 more examples

   Too long have I been haunted by that shade.

   Swift as thought the flitting shade / Thro' air his momentary journey made.

   1700, [John] Dryden, “Ceyx and Alcyone”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   Still, Birch House (a sop to the shade of the murdered Perak Resident) had no more than its normal share of flagellation[.]

   1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 39

   In the silence, that's when the shades come crowding around, asking for love, asking for blood, longing to keep me in Hades surrounded by shades of loss and desire, denial and self-hatred.

   1986, Reginald Shepherd, “On Not Being White”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 48

8. countableA postage stamp showing an obvious difference in colour/color to the original printing and needing a separate catalogue/catalog entry.
9. uncountableSubtle insults.

   throw shade

   3 more examples

   Why did you paint your room chartreuse? No shade; I'm genuinely curious.

   Shade is: "I don't tell you you're ugly, but I don't have to tell you because you know you're ugly." And that's shade.

   1990, Jennie Livingston, director, Paris Is Burning, spoken by Dorian Corey

   In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Carey offered her explanation for how the moment of shade came about.

   2018 November 29, Lisa Respers France, “Mariah Carey’s legendary Jennifer Lopez shade was her ‘trying to be nice’”, in CNN

10. countableA cover around or above a light bulb, a lampshade.

    Lighting was unimaginative for the standard stock with naked tungsten filament bulbs and metal reflectors. However, all compartments had individual reading lights above the seats with attractive glass shades.

    1979 August, Graham Burtenshaw, Michael S. Welch, “O.V.S. Bulleid's SR loco-hauled coaches - 1”, in Railway World, page 398

11. countablehistoricaluncountableA candle-shade.

    I am now finishing this letter by candle-light, with the help of a handkerchief tied over the shade.

    1817, T. Munro, Life, i. 511

    1 more example

    His tent is furnished with a good large bed, mattress, pillow, &c., a few camp-stools or chairs, a folding table, a pair of shades for his candles, six or seven trunks with table equipage, his stock of linen (at least 24 shirts); some dozens of wine, brandy, and gin; tea, sugar, and biscuit; and a hamper of live poultry and his milch-goat.

    1789, Munro's Narrative, 186

present singular third person shades · participle present shading · participle past shaded · past shaded

1. transitiveTo shield (someone or something) from light.

   The old oak tree shaded the lawn in the heat of the day.

2. intransitiverareTo shield oneself from light.

   We shaded under a huge oak tree.

3. transitiveTo alter slightly.

   You'll need to shade your shot slightly to the left.

   1 more example

   Most politicians will shade the truth if it helps them.

4. intransitiveTo vary or approach something slightly, particularly in color.

   The hillside was bright green, shading towards gold in the drier areas.

   1 more example

   This small group will be most conveniently treated with the emotional division, into which it shades.

   1886, Edmund Gurney, Phantasms of the Living

5. intransitiveball gamesTo move slightly from one's normal fielding position.

   Jones will shade a little to the right on this pitch count.

6. transitiveTo darken, particularly in drawing.

   I draw contours first, gradually shading in midtones and shadows.

7. To win by a narrow margin.

   Both parties claimed afterwards that their man did best in the debate, but an early opinion poll suggested Mr Cameron shaded it.

   1 more example

   It was Alexis Mac Allister who lit the touchpaper at the start of the second half, scoring from the penalty spot to cancel out John Stones’s opener for City midway through a first half that the defending champions had shaded.

   2024 March 10, David Hytner, “Doku involved at both ends as Liverpool and Manchester City share spoils”, in The Guardian

8. transitivecomputingTo reduce (a window) so that only its title bar is visible.

   Antonyms: unshade

9. slangtransitiveTo throw shade, to subtly insult someone.

   The lyrics have prompted headlines about her “shading” Musk with a “spicy dig”, but I reckon the guy got off lightly.

   2021 December 8, Arwa Mahdawi, “Elon Musk is learning a hard lesson: never date a musician”, in The Guardian

10. obsoletetransitiveTo shelter; to cover from injury; to protect; to screen.

    Ere in our own house I do shade my head.

    c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

11. obsoletetransitiveTo present a shadow or image of; to shadow forth; to represent.

    His [Osiris’s] wife was Iſis, whom they likewiſe made / A Goddeſſe of great powre and ſouerainty, / And in her perſon cunningly did ſhade / That part of Iuſtice, which is Equity, […]

    1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 268

plural Shades

1. A surname.