- phase
- phase, aspect, side, facet, angle are comparable when they denote one of the possible ways in which an object of contemplation may be seen or may be presented. Phase may distinctly imply a change in the appearance of a thing without a change in the observer's point of view. From its original denotation as one of the four different shapes which the moon apparently assumes during its waxing and waning it often suggests a cyclical change in appearance{
the wheel of the world swings through the same phases. . . . Summer passed and winter thereafter, and came and passed again— Kipling
}In extended use it is often applied to an outward and passing manifestation of a stage in growth, development, or unfolding{the way children develop and the different phases they go through— Barclay
}but it also may apply to one of two or more distinctive appearances or values of something with little or no suggestion of cyclical or temporal succession{the red fox occurs in several color phases, of which the silver phase has been found to breed true
}{he was a shrewd, smooth political-financier, shady in both phases—S. H. Adams
}{the two alternating forces or phases in the rhythm of the universe which Empedocles calls Love and Hate— Toynbee
}Aspect sometimes implies a change in appearance without a shifting in point of view, but unlike phase it usually suggests a superficial change, especially one brought about by unpredictable circumstances{every time I look out of the window, the hills present a new aspect
}More distinctively it implies a change in appearance that is traceable to a change in the observer's point of view{the one and only aspect of a rich and complex subject which I mean to treat— Lowes
}{an entirely new aspect of the Everest massif filled our northwestern horizon— Shipton
}{the two men lay whispering for hours, canvassing every aspect of Monck's situation— Upton Sinclair
}Thus, one who proposes to treat the phases of the depression of the nineteen-thirties implies that he intends to consider its stages as they manifested themselves outwardly; one who proposes to treat all aspects of that depression implies that he intends to consider it from every possible point of view (as the political, the economic, and the sociological). Side, though often used interchangeably with phase and aspect, may retain implications derived from other of its senses and is used chiefly in reference to something that may be thought of as having two or more faces and therefore not fully apprehensible unless it or its observer shifts position{see life only on its pleasant side
}{if you get on the wrong side of authority, you are executed or exiled— Edmund Wilson
}{the history as a whole is deficient on the economic side— Allen Johnson
}But side differs from phase and aspect in less regularly connoting appearance or referring to physical or intellectual vision{hear both sides of a dispute
}{read all sides in a controversy
}{on its theoretic and perceptive side, Morality touches Science; on its emotional side, poetic Art— George Eliot
}{this kind of discussion went on all the time between the parents. They could take either side with ease— Wouk
}Facet differs from side in implying a multiplicity of other faces similar to or like the one singled out for attention{noticed the different shades of green on the planes and facets of each clipped tree— Dahl
}{the strength of the lyric lies in the complete statement of a single selected facet of experience—Day Lewis
}Angle denotes an aspect which is observable from a point of view restricted in its scope{he knows only one angle of his subject
}{it is necessary to consider all angles of the situation
}{views these developments from a fresh angle— Dumas Malone
}Analogous words: *state, condition, situation, posture: *appearance, look, semblance
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
