Definitions for: Dim


[adj] lacking in light; not bright or harsh; "a dim light beside the bed"; "subdued lights and soft music"
[adj] made dim or less bright; "the dimmed houselights brought a hush of anticipation"; "dimmed headlights"; "we like dimmed lights when we have dinner"
[adj] slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity; "so dense he never understands anything I say to him"; "never met anyone quite so dim"; "although dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick"- Thackeray; "dumb officials make some really dumb decisions"; "he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse"; "worked with the slow students"
[adj] lacking clarity or distinctness; "a dim figure in the distance"; "only a faint recollection"; "shadowy figures in the gloom"; "saw a vague outline of a building through the fog"; "a few wispy memories of childhood"
[adj] offering little or no hope; "the future looked black"; "prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a dim view of things"
[v] become vague or indistinct; "The distinction between the two theories blurred"
[v] make dim by comparison or conceal
[v] make dim or lusterless; "Time had dimmed the silver"
[v] become dim or lusterless; "the lights dimmed and the curtain rose"
[v] become or make darker; "The screen darkend"; "He darkened the colors by adding brown"
[v] switch a car's headlights from a higher to a lower beam



Webster (1913) Definition: Dim, a. [Compar. Dimmer; superl. Dimmest.] [AS. dim;
akin to OFries. dim, Icel. dimmr: cf. MHG. timmer, timber; of
uncertain origin.]
1. Not bright or distinct; wanting luminousness or clearness;
obscure in luster or sound; dusky; darkish; obscure;
indistinct; overcast; tarnished.

The dim magnificence of poetry. --Whewell.

How is the gold become dim! --Lam. iv. 1.

I never saw The heavens so dim by day. --Shak.

Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on,
Through words and things, a dim and perilous way.
--Wordsworth.

2. Of obscure vision; not seeing clearly; hence, dull of
apprehension; of weak perception; obtuse.

Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. --Job
xvii. 7.

The understanding is dim. --Rogers.

Note: Obvious compounds: dim-eyed; dim-sighted, etc.

Syn: Obscure; dusky; dark; mysterious; imperfect; dull;
sullied; tarnished.


Dim, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dimmed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Dimming.]
1. To render dim, obscure, or dark; to make less bright or
distinct; to take away the luster of; to darken; to dull;
to obscure; to eclipse.

A king among his courtiers, who dims all his
attendants. --Dryden.

Now set the sun, and twilight dimmed the ways.
--Cowper.

2. To deprive of distinct vision; to hinder from seeing
clearly, either by dazzling or clouding the eyes; to
darken the senses or understanding of.

Her starry eyes were dimmed with streaming tears.
--C. Pitt.


Dim, v. i.
To grow dim. --J. C. Shairp.

Synonyms: black, bleak, blind, blur, dark, darken, dense, dimmed, dip, dull, dumb, faint, hopeless, indistinct, low-beam(a), obtuse, shadowy, slow, slur, stupid, subdued, vague, wispy

Antonyms: bright, brighten, focalise, focalize, focus, undimmed

See Also: change, change intensity, darken, efface, gloss over, obliterate, skate over, skimp over, slur over, smooth over, weaken, wipe out

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