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# pale

«pale» in Mova's school dictionary: **Pale describes a face or skin that has less colour than…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (pale, paler, palest); verb (pale, pales, paled, paling); noun (a pale — rare; beyond the pale)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Pale describes a face or skin that has less colour than usual, often because someone is ill, scared or shocked. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#m1)

2) A pale colour is light and soft, not strong or dark, like pale blue. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#m2)

3) Pale light is weak, not bright. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#m3)

4) To pale means to become pale, or to seem less important next to something else. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#m4)

5) Beyond the pale means very bad or not acceptable. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In health and first aid: a pale, sweaty, cold person may be in shock or about to faint; sit them down and get help. In art lessons: mixing white makes paler shades; pale and dark colours. In stories, «she went pale» tells the reader a character is frightened or shocked. Phrases: «go pale», «turn pale», «pale blue», «pale as a ghost», «pale in comparison».

### examples

- You look pale; are you feeling all right? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x1)
- He went pale when he saw the spider. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x2)
- She painted her room pale yellow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x3)
- The pale moon rose over the hills. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x4)
- Add white paint to make the colour paler. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x5)
- After the illness she was thin and pale. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x6)
- My drawing pales in comparison to yours. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x7)
- Kicking the dog was beyond the pale. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x8)
- ‘Sylvia’s dear face is pale to-day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/#x9)

### note

Comparatives: «paler, palest». Homophone: «pail» (a bucket), which sounds exactly the same. Pale is often used with colours: «pale green» (light green). Opposite: «dark» for colours, «rosy» or «flushed» for faces.

### In the corpora

- [Pale pigs can get sunburnt like fair-skinned people, so farmers sometimes give them shade or sun cream.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/138-peppa-pig-real-pigs/5/)
- [Many moths rest still on trees looking like bark, and when factory soot darkened trees, dark moths survived better than pale ones.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/189-masters-of-camouflage/11/)
- [«Then it ought to be Number One,» says Alice — and the King turns pale and shuts his book.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/23-alice-alices-evidence-1/10/)
- [«But to-day all that seems pale and thin and very far away.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/57-willows-ch9-part2-the-swallows/22/)
- [Tea's colour substances change in acid: lemon makes tea paler, and baking soda makes it darker.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/17-indicators-the-red-cabbage-rainbow/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «pale» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pale/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.