pale 1 (p l)n. 1. A stake or pointed stick; a picket. 2. A fence enclosing an area. 3. The area enclosed by a fence or boundary. 4. a. A region or district lying within an imposed boundary or constituting a separate jurisdiction. b. Pale The medieval dominions of the English in Ireland. Used with the. 5. Heraldry A wide vertical band in the center of an escutcheon. tr.v. paled, pal·ing, pales Idiom: To enclose with pales; fence in. beyond the pale Irrevocably unacceptable or unreasonable: behavior that was quite beyond the pale. [Middle English, from Old French pal, from Latin p lus; see pag- in Indo-European roots.] |
| pale 2 (pl) adj. pal·er, pal·est 1. Whitish in complexion; pallid. 2. a. Of a low intensity of color; light. b. Having high lightness and low saturation. 3. Of a low intensity of light; dim or faint: "a late afternoon sun coming through the el tracks and falling in pale oblongs on the cracked, empty sidewalks" (Jimmy Breslin). 4. Feeble; weak: a pale rendition of the aria. v. paled, pal·ing, pales v.tr. To cause to turn pale. v.intr. 1. To become pale; blanch: paled with fright. 2. To decrease in relative importance. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pallidus, from pall  re, to be pale; see pel-1 in Indo-European roots.]pale  ly adv.pale ness n. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  paleness - unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress) |
| 2. | paleness - the property of having a naturally light complexion | |
| 3. | paleness - being deficient in color color property - an attribute of color |
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