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Passing vs Fading - What's the difference?

passing | fading | Related terms |

As verbs the difference between passing and fading

is that passing is present participle of lang=en while fading is present participle of lang=en.

As nouns the difference between passing and fading

is that passing is death, dying; the end of something while fading is the act of something that fades; gradual diminishment.

As an adjective passing

is that passes away; ephemeral.

As an adverb passing

is surpassingly, greatly.

passing

English

Verb

(head)
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • That passes away; ephemeral.
  • * 1814 , (Lord Byron), Lara , I.15:
  • And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours
  • * 2010 , Marianne Kirby, The Guardian , 21 Sep 2010:
  • It might be possible to dismiss
  • dittowatch as just another passing internet fancy. After all, hashtags are ephemeral.
  • * Shakespeare
  • her passing deformity
  • * 1835 , (Washington Irving), The Crayon Miscellany :
  • It was by dint of passing strength, / That he moved the massy stone at length.
  • * 1847 , Robert Holmes, The Case of Ireland Stated :
  • That parliament was destined, in one short hour of convulsive strength, in one short hour of passing glory, to humble the pride and alarm the fears of England.
  • vague, cursory.
  • * 2011 , Stewart J Lawrence, The Guardian , 14 Jun 2011:
  • Ardent pro-lifer Rick Santorum made one passing reference to "authenticity" as a litmus test for a conservative candidate, but if he was obliquely referring to Romney (and he was), you could be excused for missing the dig.
  • going past - passing cars.
  • Adverb

    (-)
  • * 1813 , (Percy Bysshe Shelley), Queen Mab , I:
  • One, pale as yonder waning moon, / With lips of lurid blue; / The other, rosy as the morn / When throned on ocean's wave, / It blushes o'er the world: / Yet both so passing wonderful!
  • * 2010 , Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian , 30 Oct 2010:
  • ‘I find it passing strange that convicts understand honest folk, but honest folk don't understand convicts.’

    Usage notes

    * This use is sometimes misconstrued as meaning "vaguely" or "slightly" (perhaps by confusion with such phrases as "passing fancy", under Adjective, above), leading to formations such as "more than passing clever" etc.

    Noun

  • Death, dying; the end of something.
  • The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.
  • * (Oliver Onions), The Story of Louie
  • And since he did not see Louie by the folding door, Louie knew that in his former passings and repassings he could not have seen her either.
  • (legal) The act of approving a bill etc.
  • (sports) The act of passing a ball etc. to another player.
  • A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.
  • fading

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • .
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-10-19, volume=409, issue=8858, magazine=(The Economist), author=Banyan
  • , title= The meaning of Sachin , passage=With fading eyesight and reactions, the runs have dried up. That Mr Tendulkar has nonetheless kept his place in the national [cricket] side is a more dismal exemplum: of the impunity enjoyed by all India’s rich and powerful.}}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of something that fades; gradual diminishment.
  • * 1854 , (Herman Melville), (Israel Potter)
  • (obsolete) An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Fading is a fine jig.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • delicate burthens of dildos and fadings
    (Webster 1913)