- pale
- pale adj 1 Pale, pallid, ashen, ashy, wan, livid mean devoid of natural or healthy color as applied to a complexion or deficient in vividness or intensity of hue as applied to a specific color.Pale is the least rich of these words in implications and connotations; it merely implies relative nearness to white and deficiency in depth and brilliance of coloring{
his face grew pale
}{the sea is a pale green in this light
}Pallid adds to pale the suggestions of deprivation, rather than absence, of color and of an abnormal condition (as weakness or faintness, or intense weariness); thus, one may be naturally pale but a person made pale by illness would usually be called pallid{his pallid face reveals the strain he has been under
}{trembling limbs and pallid lips— Shelley
}{its little smoke, in pallid moonshine, died— Keats
}Ashen and ashy definitely suggest not only the pale gray color of ashes but often, also, extreme pallor (as of the skin in death). A thing described as ashen or ashy may therefore be said to be deadly or ghastly pale{the skies they were ashen and sober— Poe
}{the ashen hue of age— Scott
}{oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost, of ashy semblance— Shak.
}{Mr. Cruncher, who was all in a tremble ... with an ashy and solemn visage— Dickens
}Wan suggests the blanching associated with an unhealthy condition or waning vitality; it usually therefore denotes a sickly paleness{the blasted stars looked wan— Milton
}{her poor wan face with its wistful, pitiful little smile— Hewlett
}Livid basically means leaden-hued; it is chiefly used of things, especially of human faces that under the influence of something that distorts them have lost their normal coloring and have assumed a dull grayish tinge{he grew livid with rage
}{in the greenish glass her own face looked far off like the livid face of a drowned corpse at the bottom of a pool— Conrad
}The word is also applied to various dull or dun colors when the hue is barely apparent{the livid red of the sun seen through a heavy fog
}{the livid yellow of a stormy sky
}{his trembling lips are livid blue— Scott
}2 Pale, anemic, bloodless are comparable in their extended senses when they are applied to things and mean weak and thin in substance or in vital qualities, as though drained of blood.Pale stresses deficiency in qualities necessary to give a thing its true color or character. Sometimes it connotes lack of vigor, force, or energy{the French . . . shake in their fear and with pale policy seek to divert the English purposes— Shak.
}{does pale little studies that are as innocuous as his earlier work was adventurous— Coates
}but more often it implies inadequacy or failure to measure up to the requirements of a type or standard{her whole existence was too pale, too inadequate in some way—too unvital— Farrell
}Anemic in its extended applications to things implies deficiency in the elements that make for vigor or richness, especially intellectual or spiritual vigor or richness{the African Negro has . . . joy of life, love of color, keen senses, beautiful voice, and ear for music—contributions that . . . might one day prove a tonic to an anemic and artless America— Zangwill
}{not even a respectable vocabulary of indecency to draw upon in support of our anemic cussing— Whicher
}Bloodless stresses the absence of qualities necessary to life or lifelikeness (as vitality, warmth, color, and human emotion){now if I make this sound bloodless, I am exaggerating a bit—even an old habit is livened once in a while with color— Mailer
}{books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life— Stevenson
}Analogous words: *insipid, wishy-washy, inane, jejune: ineffective, ineffectual
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
