TOP

Definition of phase noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

phase

noun
 
/feɪz/
 
/feɪz/
Idioms
jump to other results
  1. a stage in a process of change or development
    • during the initial/final phase
    • the construction/development/design phase
    • the testing phase of the project
    • This technology is still in an early phase of development.
    • phase in something an important phase in your career
    • The wedding marked the beginning of a new phase in Emma's life.
    • His anxiety about the work was just a passing phase.
    • During his stay in Spain, his work entered a new phase.
    • She's going through a difficult phase.
    • The semester was divided into three phases of study.
    Extra Examples
    • An effective healthcare response is vital in the early phases of a pandemic.
    • We are ready to begin the next phase of the project.
    • It's just a phase he's going through.
    • Society has entered a technological phase of evolution.
    • The co-op is still in the start-up phase.
    • The period can be divided into three distinct phases.
    • The process is still in its testing phase.
    • a new phase in the European economy
    • as the team reaches the later phases of product development
    • during the planning phase of an operation
    • early in the project's design phase
    • the acute phase of the disease
    • the main Catholic rituals that mark important phases in a person's life
    • Most teenagers go through a difficult phase.
    • The basic idea is elaborated during the design phase.
    • The initial phase of the project will last six months.
    • We are now entering a critical phase of the campaign.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • early
    • first
    • initial
    verb + phase
    • begin
    • enter
    • initiate
    preposition
    • during a/​the phase
    • in a/​the phase
    • phase in
    See full entry
  2. each of the shapes of the moon as we see it from the earth at different times of the month
    • the phases of the moon
  3. Word Originearly 19th cent. (in sense (2)): from French phase, based on Greek phasis ‘appearance’, from the base of phainein ‘to show’.
Idioms
in phase/out of phase (with something)
  1. (British English) working/not working together in the right way
    • The traffic lights were out of phase.
See phase in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee phase in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
sufficiently
adverb
 
 
From the Word list
OPAL written words
Oxford Learner's Dictionaries Word of the Day