shades

1. 1.

   (plural) something that reminds you of someone or something

   “aren't there shades of 1948 here?”

   Broaderreminder

   plural

2. 2.

   (plural) spectacles that are darkened or polarized to protect the eyes from the glare of the sun

   “he was wearing a pair of mirrored shades”

   Synonymssunglassesdark glasses

   Broaderspectacles

   PartsPolaroid

   plural

Other forms of shades

plural

shadeses·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about shades

What does shades mean?

shades means "(plural) something that reminds you of someone or something". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in shades?

shades has 1 syllable: shades. In IPA it is /ˈʃeɪdz/.

What is another word for shades?

Close synonyms include sunglasses, dark glasses. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is shades a common word?

shades is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.