Wane Meaning

/weɪn/
C1

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.

nounThe lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes progressively smaller as visible from Earth.

They say it's on the wane, but it's still got something, hasn't it?
Oh luck! Like the moon you change; steadily you wax and then wane again.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
wax
CEFR Practice Quiz
The moon's brightness began to ____ after the full moon night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The manager noticed that the team's enthusiasm for the project began to ____ as the work became more difficult today.

From Middle English wane, from Old English wana (“defect, shortage”), from Proto-West Germanic *wanō, from Proto-Germanic *wanô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to leave, abandon; empty, deserted”). Cognates See also wan-, want, and waste. Compare also Dutch waan (“insanity”) and German Wahn (“insanity”) deprecated defect, Old Norse vanr (“lacking”) ( > Danish prefix van-, only found in compounds), Latin vanus, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐍃 (wans, “missing, lacking”), Albanian vonë (“late, futile, mentally retarded”), Armenian ունայն (unayn, “empty”), Old Saxon and Old High German wanon (“to decrease”), Modern Dutch weinig (“a few”), Modern German weniger (“less”), comparative of wenig (“few”) (-ig being a derivate suffix; -er the suffix of comparatives). Doublet of vain, vaunt, vaniloquent, vast, vacuum, vacant, vacate, which are Latin-derived, via the PIE root.

"In the morning, one might say, his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o’clock, meridian—his dinner hour—it blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals; and continued blazing—but, as it were, with a gradual wane—till six o’clock, P.M., or thereabouts; […]." — 1853, Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, in The Piazza Tales, New York: Dix, Edwards & Co, published 1856:
"Some French peasants also prefer to sow in the wane." — 1906, James George Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, volume 2, page 133:
"It was very dark, for although the sky was clear the moon was now well in the wane, and would not rise till the small hours." — 1926, H. P. Lovecraft, The Moon-Bog:
"The day was in its prime, the day was in its wane, and still, uneasy in mind and body, she slept on." — 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
"The situation of the Venetian party in the wane of the eighteenth century had become extremely critical." — 1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two Nations, Book 1, Chapter 3:

Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
The moon's brightness began to ____ after the full moon night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The manager noticed that the team's enthusiasm for the project began to ____ as the work became more difficult today.

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