- any of the major appearances or aspects in which a thing of varying modes or conditions manifests itself to the eye or mind.
- a stage in a process of change or development: Each phase of life brings its own joys.
- a side, aspect, or point of view: This is only one phase of the question.
- a state of synchronous operation: to put two mechanisms in phase.
- Astronomy.
- the particular appearance presented by the moon or a planet at a given time.
- one of the recurring appearances or states of the moon or a planet in respect to the form, or the absence, of its illuminated disk: the phases of the moon.
- color phase.
- a mechanically separate, homogeneous part of a heterogeneous system: the solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of a system.
- a particular stage or point of advancement in a cycle; the fractional part of the period through which the time has advanced, measured from some arbitrary origin often expressed as an angle (phase angle ), the entire period being taken as 360°.
- to schedule or order in gradual stages, so as to be available when or as needed.
- to adjust the phase of (an electrical or mechanical device), especially to synchronize it with that of one or more other devices: a properly phased, synchronous pulse generator that augments the action of the human heart.
- to reduce by gradual stages.
- to put or come into use gradually; incorporate by degrees: to phase in new machinery.
- to bring or come to an end gradually; ease out of service: to phase out obsolescent machinery.
- any distinct or characteristic period or stage in a sequence of events or chain of development
- one of the recurring shapes of the portion of the moon or an inferior planet illuminated by the sun
- physics
- the fraction of a cycle of a periodic quantity that has been completed at a specific reference time, expressed as an angle
- (as modifier)
- a particular stage in a periodic process or phenomenon
- (of two waveforms) reaching corresponding phases at the same time
- (of two waveforms) not in phase
- a distinct state of matter characterized by homogeneous composition and properties and the possession of a clearly defined boundary
- a variation in the normal form of an animal, esp a colour variation, brought about by seasonal or geographical change
- a stage in mitosis or meiosis
- one of the circuits in a system in which there are two or more alternating voltages displaced by equal amounts in phase (sense 5)
- (in systemic grammar) the type of correspondence that exists between the predicators in a clause that has two or more predicators; for example connection by to, as in I managed to do it, or -ing, as in we heard him singing
- to execute, arrange, or introduce gradually or in stages
- to cause (a part, process, etc) to function or coincide with (another part, process, etc)
- to arrange (processes, goods, etc) to be supplied or executed when required
