wane

CEFRC1

/weɪn/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To become gradually weaker, smaller, or less important.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    The end of a period.

Examples

  • Oh luck! Like the moon you change; steadily you wax and then wane again.

  • They say it's on the wane, but it's still got something, hasn't it?

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meaning

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

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.

  2. A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.

More examples

In context

  • 1913, Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wenzel Anton Kaunitz", His influence which was on the wane during the reign of Joseph II grew still less during the reign of Leopold II (1790-2).

  • 2002, Peter Ross, Appraisal and Repair of Timber Structures, p. 11, Sapwood, or even bark, may appear on the corners, or may have been cut off, resulting in wane, or missing timber.

  • Some French peasants also prefer to sow in the wane.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The moon's brightness began to blank after the full moon night.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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 b...