As a verb, phase means to plan or carry out systematically. It’s usually followed by in or out. Faze means to disrupt the composure of. So, for example, when you implement a plan little by little, you phase it in. If you are not bothered by something, you are unfazed.
Examples
The words are easily mixed up—for example:
Losing Randy Moss didn’t phase him … [Opposing Views]
So the fact that there are still garden chores to do does not phase me. [Baltimore Sun]
But these writers use them well:
Being told to “screw off” didn’t faze Mayor John Williams during his inaugural speech before a crowd of more than 200 people Monday. [Trentonian]
On Monday, the DOE released a list of 11 schools set to be phased out and a charter school recommended for non-renewal. [NY1]
Uncanny replicas faze monkeys, too [Futurity]
China will phase in planned changes to its loan-loss provisioning rules to give banks time to adapt … [Reuters]
Totally unfazed by the elements, he threw for 369 more yards and two more touchdowns. [Boston Globe]
