"shades" in the noun sense
1. shade, shadiness, shadowiness
relative darkness caused by light rays being intercepted by an opaque body
"aren't there shades of 1948 here?"
"it is much cooler in the shade"
"there's too much shadiness to take good photographs"
2. shade, tint, tincture, tone
a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color
"he was wearing a pair of mirrored shades"
"after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted"
3. shade
protective covering that protects something from direct sunlight
"they used umbrellas as shades"
"as the sun moved he readjusted the shade"
4. nuance, nicety, shade, subtlety, refinement
a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
"without understanding the finer nuances you can't enjoy the humor"
"don't argue about shades of meaning"
5. shade
a position of relative inferiority
"an achievement that puts everything else in the shade"
"his brother's success left him in the shade"
6. tad, shade
a slight amount or degree of difference
"a tad too expensive"
"not a tad of difference"
"the new model is a shade better than the old one"
7. ghost, shade, spook, wraith, specter, spectre
a mental representation of some haunting experience
"he looked like he had seen a ghost"
"it aroused specters from his past"
8. shade
a representation of the effect of shadows in a picture or drawing (as by shading or darker pigment)
9. lampshade, lamp shade, shade
a protective ornamental covering for a lamp, used to screen a light bulb from direct view
"shades" in the verb sense
1. shadow, shade, shade off
cast a shadow over
2. shade, fill in
represent the effect of shade or shadow on
3. shade
protect from light, heat, or view
"Shade your eyes when you step out into the bright sunlight"
4. shade
vary slightly
"shade the meaning"
5. shade
pass from one quality such as color to another by a slight degree
"the butterfly wings shade to yellow"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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