faze
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Etymology
Origin of faze
First recorded in 1820–30, dialectal form of feeze
Explanation
If nothing can faze you, you are unflappable. Nothing bothers you, or gets you off your game. To faze is to disrupt or disturb. Faze is a new word, descending from a word that meant to frighten away. At basketball games, when a player is shooting a foul shot, fans behind the net will try to faze the player by waving towels and making loud noise. They are trying to disturb him, so that he misses the kind of shot he's made thousands of times before.
Vocabulary lists containing faze
The Crossover
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Refugee
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Tom Petty (1950 - 2017) Tribute List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yet building strong relationships with the players did not seem to faze the former Liverpool defender.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
Matthews took over the leadoff position, but it did not faze her.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2026
That’s why the growing hardship number, while dramatic, doesn’t necessarily faze experts yet.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 4, 2026
The recent lack of five-day cricket for New Zealand, whose previous outing before Zimbabwe was that home series against England a year ago, did not faze captain Tom Latham.
From Barron's • Dec. 1, 2025
To faze is to disconcert or embarrass; it comes from a Middle English word, fesen, which meant “drive away” or “put to flight.”
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
