Dictionary entry details
• DIM (adjective)
Meaning:
Lacking in light; not bright or harsh
Synonyms:
dim; subdued
Context examples:
a dim light beside the bed / subdued lights and soft music
Similar:
dark (devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black)
Meaning:
Lacking clarity or distinctness
Synonyms:
wispy; shadowy; faint; dim; vague
Context examples:
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
Similar:
indistinct (not clearly defined or easy to perceive or understand)
Meaning:
Made dim or less bright
Synonyms:
dimmed; dim
Context examples:
the dimmed houselights brought a hush of anticipation / dimmed headlights / we like dimmed lights when we have dinner
Similar:
low-beam (used of headlights)
Meaning:
Offering little or no hope
Synonyms:
bleak; dim; black
Context examples:
the future looked black / prospects were bleak / Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult / took a dim view of things
Similar:
hopeless (without hope because there seems to be no possibility of comfort or success)
Meaning:
Slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
Synonyms:
dumb; slow; obtuse; dense; dim; dull
Context examples:
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 / dumb officials make some really dumb decisions / he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse / worked with the slow students
Similar:
stupid (lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity)
• DIM (verb)
Meaning:
Switch (a car's headlights) from a higher to a lower beam
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Synonyms:
dim; dip
Hypernyms (to "dim" is one way to...):
change intensity (increase or decrease in intensity)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Meaning:
Become or make darker
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Synonyms:
dim; darken
Context examples:
The screen darkened / He darkened the colors by adding brown
Hypernyms (to "dim" is one way to...):
change intensity (increase or decrease in intensity)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Become dim or lusterless
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Context example:
the lights dimmed and the curtain rose
Hypernyms (to "dim" is one way to...):
change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Meaning:
Make dim or lusterless
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Context example:
Time had dimmed the silver
Hypernyms (to "dim" is one way to...):
darken (make dark or darker)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Make dim by comparison or conceal
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
blind; dim
Hypernyms (to "dim" is one way to...):
darken (make dark or darker)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Become vague or indistinct
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
slur; blur; dim
Context example:
The distinction between the two theories blurred
Hypernyms (to "dim" is one way to...):
weaken (become weaker)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dim"):
efface; obliterate (remove completely from recognition or memory)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
