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phase

/feɪz//feɪz/·noun
a distinct stage or period in a process of change or development
Fig. 1 — A signal runs its round: red holds the lamp for its while, then green takes it whole, then amber, then red again.
01Definition

A phase is one stage in an ordered sequence of change — the Greek phasis meant the appearance the moon shows on a given night. Each phase is temporary and gives way to the next: the early phase of a project, an awkward phase of growth, the phases of matter from solid to liquid to gas. The word frames change as a series of discrete states rather than one smooth slide, with a clear threshold where one phase ends and another begins.

02In use
  • iThe project has entered its final phase, and results should begin to emerge within weeks.
  • iiEach phase of the experiment must culminate in a written report before the next begins.
  • iiiAdolescence is often described as a difficult phase that every teenager must pass through.
03Collocations
  • the next phase
  • a transitional phase
  • phase of development
  • phase in / phase out
  • in phases

Family phased (adjective) · phasing (noun)

04Relations

=stage, period, step, juncture, chapter

06TOEFL & IELTS

Two traps. First, spelling and meaning versus phrase (a phase is a stage; a phrase is a group of words). Second, the phrasal verb phase in / phase out (to introduce or remove gradually) is high-value for Writing on policy and technology ('the subsidy will be phased out by 2030'). 'A transitional phase' and 'the early phases of' are reliable academic collocations.

07Asked
Is it 'doesn't faze me' or 'doesn't phase me'?
Faze — with an f. To faze someone is to daunt or disconcert them — an 1830s Americanism, a variant of an old dialect verb, unrelated to phase: the criticism didn't faze her. 'Doesn't phase me' is one of English's most common misspellings because the words sound identical and phase is far more familiar. Memory hook: the moon has phases; nothing about the moon is fazed.
What does it mean to phase something out?
To remove it in planned stages rather than at a stroke: old banknotes, leaded petrol and subsidies get phased out — each step scheduled, the thing still partly alive between steps. Phase in is the mirror, introducing gradually, and as nouns they close up or hyphenate — a phaseout (US) or phase-out (UK) of coal by 2035. The staging is the point: no cliff, just a managed descent.
What does 'just a phase' mean?
A dismissal wearing a diagnosis: calling a behaviour 'just a phase' predicts it will pass on its own and therefore needs no response — teenagers hear it constantly. The phrase borrows the word's core promise, that every stage ends. The scene above is that promise in lights: no colour keeps the lamp; each one's stretch runs out on schedule.
Is a phase in chemistry the same as a state of matter?
Not quite — a phase is any physically distinct, uniform region, and one state can contain several. Ice alone has many known solid phases, differing in crystal structure; oil and water are two liquid phases sharing one glass. States of matter — solid, liquid, gas — are the coarse categories; phases are the finer map. TOEFL science passages respect the distinction.
Why are the moon's shapes called phases?
They are the word's birthplace: Greek phasis meant an appearance — what shows itself — from the same root as phenomenon. Each night's moon is a different appearance of the same object, arriving in a fixed cycle, and that combination of temporary look plus ordered sequence is exactly what the modern word kept when it moved from the sky to projects and teenagers.