dim

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adjective

ˈdim

dimmer; dimmest

: emitting or having a limited or insufficient amount of light

dim stars

a dim lamp

a dim hallway

: dull, lusterless

dim colors

: lacking pronounced, clear-cut, or vigorous quality or character

a dim echo of the past

: seen indistinctly

a dim outline

: perceived by the senses or mind indistinctly or weakly : faint

had only a dim notion of what was going on

: having little prospect of favorable result or outcome

a dim future

: characterized by an unfavorable, skeptical, or pessimistic attitude

—usually used in the phrase take a dim view of

takes a dim view of human nature

: dim-witted

too dim to understand the joke

: not perceiving clearly and distinctly

dim eyes

dimly adverb

dimmable

ˈdi-mə-bəl

adjective

dimness noun

dim

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verb

dimmed; dimming

transitive verb

: to reduce the light from

dim the headlights

: to make dim or lusterless

dimmed their hopes of an early settlement

intransitive verb

: to become dim

the lights dimmed

their beauty had dimmed

dim

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noun

automotive vehicles : low beam

archaic : dusk, dimness

dim

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Example Sentences

Adjective Just the dim outline of the building could be seen through the fog. I have a dim memory of your last visit. Verb The latest setback has dimmed hopes of an early settlement. Hopes of an early settlement have dimmed.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

In the broad promenade facing the ornate 19th century Lviv Opera house — usually a beacon of light, now visible only as a dim bulk — a white-haired man in a long overcoat slipped and fell hard on one elbow.

Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2022 The rats were placed in a dim-lit box and played the music through a speaker.

Jacquelyne Germain, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Nov. 2022 This cute little plant has triangular, clover-like purple leaves that fold down at night or in dim light conditions.

Viveka Neveln, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Nov. 2022 When tasked with transforming a dim London basement into a welcoming guest suite, designer Max Rollitt took a looser tack, providing a local artisan with the room’s palette but letting her improvise impressionistically on a series of bedside shades.

Elizabeth Yuko, WSJ, 11 Nov. 2022 But Manhattan’s Union Square station, where eight lines converge in one dim space, is nearly always crowded.

Francesca Paris, New York Times, 4 Nov. 2022 Worst of all, the loss of China as a market and increased zero-sum competition with China will reduce economic opportunities for American companies and dim American growth prospects.

Ben Harburg, Fortune, 2 Nov. 2022 This week was no exception—only the daylight hour made the usually dim space seem new again.

Vogue, 31 Oct. 2022 The Newton, which had a dim black-and-white screen and ran on disposable batteries, was unlike any computer ever made back then.

Sascha Brodsky, Popular Mechanics, 21 Oct. 2022

Verb

Chicago’s downtown skyline may dim noticeably on fall and spring nights, but the city still throws up an immense blaze of light into the night sky, as satellite images readily show.

Richard Mertens, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Nov. 2022 The core samples give down-to-the-year readings on major volcanoes, whose clouds of ash can travel around the world and dim the sun, altering the climate by cooling it.

Michael Birnbaum, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Nov. 2022 Naturally, the over-the-top costume did nothing to dim the Xanadu singer’s star power.

Glenn Rowley, Billboard, 10 Aug. 2022 Maps: When navigating with Apple’s Maps app, the map itself will dim, but the directions, arrival time, distance, and hours remaining will still be visible.

Jacob Siegal, BGR, 15 Sep. 2022 This year the bright light from the Aug. 11 full moon will dim the view to about 10 to 20 meteors visible per hour.

Joan Rusek, cleveland, 8 Aug. 2022 Both are easy to read and use, and both will dim on sleep mode, so which display you favor is a matter of personal preference.

Sarah Toscano, Peoplemag, 6 Aug. 2022 The lights will dim and, rather than come to work, the boss will put on his gray jacket one last time and say goodbye.

New York Times, 4 Mar. 2022 There is something interesting about an artist of Styles’ stature gravitating to projects that dim his glow of fame and deliberately turn down the wattage.

A.a. Dowd, Chron, 21 Oct. 2022

Noun

Some smart models are also sunrise alarm clocks, devices that can be programmed to gradually brighten in the morning and dim in the evening, with a host of ambient sounds, mood lighting, and even guided meditation for establishing sleep routines.

Kathleen Willcox, Popular Mechanics, 30 Nov. 2022 As usual, most of the curtains were drawn, and the house dim.

Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 20 Nov. 2022 She's flanked by Hennessy Winkler as the dim-witted Will Parker and Benj Mirman as the slippery Ali Hakim.

Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 16 Sep. 2022 Served alongside Gobindobhog rice, which is shorter and stickier than the basmati found in many Indian dishes, the macher dim will be made only five to seven times a day.

Tori Latham, Robb Report, 22 Sep. 2022 Now teaming up with co-writer Oliver Chris (who played James Corden’s dashing-but-dim master in the earlier hit), Bean is back with another revamp of an old play and London’s National Theatre has high hopes.

David Benedict, Variety, 15 July 2022 Having the iPhone 14’s always-on display dim and showing the entire wallpaper might not seem efficient for the battery.

Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 1 Aug. 2022 As Pippin, who is established as a poor candidate for becoming a soldier or hero, Shannon Chong is every bit as muscular and handsome and fit as the actor (Brad Weatherford) playing his combat-ready dim-bulb of a brother, Lewis.

Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 14 July 2022 Other than a handful of oil-exporting nations like Saudi Arabia, which are benefiting from prices above $100 a barrel, there is barely a spot on the globe that has not seen its outlook dim.

New York Times, 7 June 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dim.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.