fades

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of fade.

   The fabric fades after years of washing and sunlight.

   The radio signal fades whenever the car enters a tunnel.

   Note

   A singular subject in the present needs this -s form: the color fades, but the colors fade. It serves every use of the verb, from the intransitive ones (withering, dimming, vanishing) to the transitive ones, as when a golfer fades the ball or a bettor fades a favorite. The object is the clue. With one, the verb means shaping a shot, causing a fade, or betting against; without one, it means growing faint.

   She fades every tee shot around the dogleg.

   He always fades the favorite in close games.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of fade.

   The editor added several gentle fades between the scenes.

   Modern barbershops offer a wide range of fades for short styles.

   Note

   Only the countable nouns behind it take an -s. That covers golf shots that curve deliberately away from the player, tapered haircuts, slang fights, and the gradual dips in picture or sound that editors place between scenes. The archaic adjective meaning "insipid" has no plural at all. The spelling is shared with the present-tense verb, and the sentence tells them apart: there are two fades on the reel, but the light fades.

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