dimly

Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms, Encyclopedia.

dim

(dĭm)

adj. dim·mer, dim·mest

a. Lacking in brightness: a dim room.

b. Emitting only a small amount of light; faint: a dim light bulb. See Synonyms at dark.

2. Lacking luster; dull or subdued: dim, faded colors.

3. Faintly or unclearly perceived; indistinct: a dim figure in the distance; dim, far-off sounds.

4. Lacking sharpness or clarity; vague: a dim recollection; only a dim idea of how the machine worked.

5. Weak or diminished; feeble: dim eyesight; a dim hope.

6. Negative, unfavorable, or disapproving: a dim future in store; takes a dim view of gambling.

7. Dull or slow-witted: "[She] had always seemed rather dim and vacant" (Mary V. Dearborn).

tr. & intr.v. dimmed, dim·ming, dims

To make or become dim.

a. A parking light on a motor vehicle.

b. A low beam.

2. Archaic Dusk.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

dim′ly adv.

dim′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adv.	1.	dimly - in a dim indistinct manner; "we perceived the change only dimly" indistinctly
	2.	dimly - in a manner lacking interest or vitality; "a palely entertaining show" palely, pallidly
	3.	dimly - with a dim light; "a dimly lit room" murkily

Translations

بُصورَةٍ مُعْتِمه واضِحَه

matněnejasně

dauflega, óljóst

dimly

[ˈdɪmlɪ] ADV

1. [shine, glow] → débilmente, tenuemente
dimly lit → poco iluminado, iluminado con una luz tenue

2. (= vaguely) [remember, recollect] → vagamente
I dimly remember → recuerdo vagamente ...
I was dimly aware that → era vagamente consciente de que ...
you could dimly make out the shape → apenas se entreveía la forma

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dimly

[ˈdɪmli] adv

[shine] → faiblement
dimly lit → faiblement éclairé(e)

[see, remember] → vaguement

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dimly

adv

shine → schwach; dimly lit → schwach beleuchtet

(= vaguely) → undeutlich; see → verschwommen; the peninsula was dimly visible → man konnte die Halbinsel gerade noch ausmachen; I was dimly aware that … → es war mir undeutlich bewusst, dass …; she dimly remembered it → sie erinnerte sich (noch) dunkel daran; in the dimly-remembered past → in dunkler Vorzeit

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dimly

[ˈdɪmlɪ] adv (hear, remember) → vagamente; (shine) → debolmente

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

dim

(dim) adjective

1. not bright or distinct. a dim light in the distance; a dim memory.

2. (of a person) not intelligent. She's a bit dim!

verb – past tense, past participle dimmed –

to make or become dim. Tears dimmed her eyes; He dimmed the lights in the theatre.

ˈdimly adverb

ˈdimness noun

References in classic literature ?

Near the side of the road, in a little open space and hardly ten paces away, stood the figure of a man, dimly visible and as motionless as he.

View in context

A dolorous place it was, this canoe house, filled with groans and sighs, corpses beneath the floor and composing the floor, creatures soon to be corpses upon the floor, corpses swinging in aerial sepulchre overhead, long black canoes, high-ended like beaked predatory monsters, dimly looming in the light of a slow fire where sat an ancient of the tribe of Somo at his interminable task of smoke-curing a bushman's head.

View in context

A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her,--the light which, showing the way, forbids it.

View in context

She hurriedly ascended the narrow dimly lit stone staircase, calling to Pierre, who was lagging behind, to follow.

View in context

Let the reader picture to himself the hall of the vastest cathedral he ever stood in, windowless indeed, but dimly lighted from above, presumably by shafts connected with the outer air and driven in the roof, which arched away a hundred feet above our heads, and he will get some idea of the size of the enormous cave in which we found ourselves, with the difference that this cathedral designed by nature was loftier and wider than any built by man.

View in context

They found themselves in a vast cave which was dimly lighted by the tiny grains of radium that lay scattered among the loose rocks.

View in context

Presently from along the avenue before him came the familiar sound of clanking accouterments, the herald of marching warriors, and almost simultaneously he saw upon his right an open doorway dimly lighted from within.

View in context

We entered a spacious hall with a low ceiling, dimly lighted at its further end by one small oil-lamp.

View in context

The shades were drawn, and the lights in many rooms shone dimly through them.

View in context

There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.

View in context

I cannot give a due notion of the comfort this book afforded me by the light it cast upon paths where I had dimly made my way before, but which I now followed in the full day.

View in context

Behind them were men afoot, marching in column, with dimly gleaming rifles aslant above their shoulders.