phase
noun
[ feɪz ]
• a distinct period or stage in a series of events or a process of change or development.
• "the final phases of the war"
• each of the aspects of the moon or a planet, according to the amount of its illumination, especially the new moon, the first quarter, the full moon, and the last quarter.
• a genetic or seasonal variety of an animal's coloration.
• "the invertebrate residents of the tundra pass the winter in dormant phase"
• a distinct and homogeneous form of matter (i.e. a particular solid, liquid, or gas) separated by its surface from other forms.
• "solid carbon dioxide passes directly into the gas phase without becoming a liquid"
• the relationship in time between the successive states or cycles of an oscillating or repeating system (such as an alternating electric current or a light or sound wave) and either a fixed reference point or the states or cycles of another system with which it may or may not be in synchrony.
• "there are two output channels, one fixed in phase and the other variable in phase between 0 and 360 degrees"
• (in systemic grammar) the relationship between a catenative verb and the verb that follows it, as in she hoped to succeed and I like swimming.
phase
verb
• carry out (something) in gradual stages.
• "the work is being phased over a number of years"
• adjust the phase of (something), especially so as to synchronize it with something else.
• "about 70% of the reflections were phased by this method"
Origin:
early 19th century (in phase (sense 2 of the noun)): from French phase, based on Greek phasis ‘appearance’, from the base of phainein ‘to show’.
in phase
• being or happening in synchrony or harmony.
• "the cabling work should be carried out in phase with the building work"
• having or in the same phase or stage of variation.
• "the light waves were in phase as they came through the slits"
