Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FAZE
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connect this word to others:
Faze is that little word that we often meant to write when we accidentally write phase, which sounds exactly the same and is nearly 70 times more common:
"Armed guards boarded the train, but they didn't phase Mal."
Whoops: make that faze. The armed guards didn't faze Mal; they didn't bother him, didn't make him antsy.
So often, we talk about things that don't faze us, that can't faze us, that'll never faze us. Because we pride ourselves on our composure. We're cool. We're chill. Nothing gets under our skin.
We value this equanimity of ours so much that we almost always pair the word faze with a no, a not, a can't, or a never. Much like we do with the bold words below:
"I'll never kowtow to him."
"You can't do that with impunity."
"There's no panacea for this problem."
We reject being fazed because we value being composed. Why is it that we reject kowtowing, impunity, and panaceas? As we reject those things, what values do we reveal?
make your point with...
"FAZE"
This word might have come from an Old English one meaning "to drive away."
When something fazes you, it bothers you and makes you visibly worried, scared, confused, or embarrassed.
Pronunciation:
FAZE
(rhymes with "daze" and "ways")
Part of speech:
Verb, the transitive kind: "I can't believe he let that faze him," "He won't be fazed by any of that."
Other forms:
fazed, fazing, unfazed
How to use it:
This word is casual and relaxed.
Occasionally we use it to talk about potentially upsetting, embarrassing, painful, awkward, or weird stuff that really does get to us. "The injury fazed her, and she lost her confidence." "The jeers fazed him, and he dropped his note cards." "Jacob's transformation into a wolf utterly fazed Charlie, who went white and speechless."
More often, we use "faze" to talk about things things that don't get to us. "The injury didn't faze her; she hobbled right back into school on her crutches." "The jeers didn't faze him; he made some jokes and carried on." "Jacob's transformation into a wolf didn't faze her; she petted his furry face."
You can say someone is fazed (or unfazed) by something, or, less often, fazed at something.
examples:
"De Ligt became the most expensive defender in Serie A history when he completed a 75 million euro ($85 million) transfer from Ajax. But the teen is not fazed at the price tag. 'Of course, when a club buys you for a big amount of money, there's a lot of pressure, but pressure is normal in football,' De Ligt said."
— Daniella Matar, Seattle Times, 19 July 2019
"The stretch of avenues from the Tuileries through the Place de la Concorde and the Élysée Palace to the Grand Palais became something of a walled-off city; no vehicles allowed. It didn’t faze the French, who shrugged and said things were calmer; this was just the way it was now, and would probably be for awhile."
— Vanessa Friedman, The New York Times, 3 March 2019
has this page helped you understand "faze"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "faze" without saying "unnerve" or "rattle."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) was unfazed by (some specific thing that's loud, crazy, painful, awkward, embarrassing, or disturbing). In fact, (he/she) was unfazed by (that kind of thing) in general."
Example: "Jessie Kaplan was unfazed by the screams emanating from the other room. In fact, she was unfazed by turmoil in general."
— Paula Marantz Cohen, Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan: A Novel, 2007
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
In August, we're playing the time-honored Game of Venery!
We're inventing terms for groups of things: terms that James Lipton, the author of An Exaltation of Larks, calls "shards of poetry and truth." Example terms of venery include lovely ones like "a conflagration of fireflies" and silly ones like "a myopia of umpires," "a rash of dermatologists," and "an unemployment of graduates."
In each issue this month, I'll offer two templates. Have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family, being as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. In each subsequent issue, I'll list the actual terms that appear in Lipton's book.
From the previous issue:
1. An enigma of _____
2. A _____ of politicians
The terms listed in the book are "an enigma of mystery writers" and "an odium of politicians."
Try these today:
1. A caprice of _____
2. A _____ of managing editors (for a publication, like a newspaper)
review this word:
1. The opposite of FAZE is
A. RILE.
B. RELAX.
C. RECUPERATE.
2. Not easily fazed, he can _____.
A. deliver jokes without breaking into giggles
B. calm a screaming child without raising his voice
C. grade a towering pile of term papers without taking a break
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Faze is that little word that we often meant to write when we accidentally write phase, which sounds exactly the same and is nearly 70 times more common:
"FAZE" This word might have come from an Old English one meaning "to drive away."
"De Ligt became the most expensive defender in Serie A history when he completed a 75 million euro ($85 million) transfer from Ajax. But the teen is not fazed at the price tag. 'Of course, when a club buys you for a big amount of money, there's a lot of pressure, but pressure is normal in football,' De Ligt said."
Explain the meaning of "faze" without saying "unnerve" or "rattle."
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) was unfazed by (some specific thing that's loud, crazy, painful, awkward, embarrassing, or disturbing). In fact, (he/she) was unfazed by (that kind of thing) in general."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. The opposite of FAZE is
|