facet vs phase

facet

noun
  • One member of a compound eye, as found in insects and crustaceans. 

  • The narrow plane surface between flutings of a column; a fillet. 

  • A smooth circumscribed surface. 

  • One of a series of things, such as steps in a project. 

  • Any one of the flat surfaces cut into a gem. 

  • A face of codimension 1 of a polytope. 

  • A criterion that can be used to sort and filter, such as the colour or size of products in an online store. 

  • Any of the small joints at each segment of the spine that provide stability and help guide motion 

  • One among many similar or related, yet still distinct things. 

verb
  • To cut a facet into a gemstone. 

phase

noun
  • That which is exhibited to the eye; the appearance which anything manifests, especially any one among different and varying appearances of the same object. 

  • A component in a material system that is distinguished by chemical composition and/or physical state (solid, liquid or gas) and/or crystal structure. It is delineated from an adjoining phase by an abrupt change in one or more of those conditions. 

  • The arctangent of the quotient formed by dividing the imaginary part of a complex number by the real part. 

  • A distinguishable part of a sequence or cycle occurring over time. 

  • A particular appearance or state in a regularly recurring cycle of changes with respect to quantity of illumination or form, or the absence, of its enlightened disk. Illustrated in Wikipedia's article Lunar phase. 

  • Any one point or portion in a recurring series of changes, as in the changes of motion of one of the particles constituting a wave or vibration; one portion of a series of such changes, in distinction from a contrasted portion, as the portion on one side of a position of equilibrium, in contrast with that on the opposite side. 

  • In certain organisms, one of two or more colour variations characteristic of the species, but independent of the ordinary seasonal and sexual differences, and often also of age. 

  • A haplotype. 

  • The period of play between consecutive breakdowns. 

  • Any appearance or aspect of an object of mental apprehension or view. 

  • In a polyphase electrical power system, one of the power-carrying conductors, or the alternating current carried by it. 

  • A distortion caused by a difference in the speed of propagation for different frequencies 

verb
  • To determine haplotypes in (data) when genotypes are known. 

  • To begin—if construed with "in"—or to discontinue—if construed with out—(doing) something over a period of time (i.e. in phases). 

  • Antique form of faze. 

  • To pass into or through a solid object. 

  • To use a phaser. 

How often have the words facet and phase occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )