Synonyms for dim
dɪmdim

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:1.0 / 1 vote

1. dim

   Strictly, that which is black is absolutely destitute of color; that which is dark is absolutely destitute of light. In common speech, however, a coat is black, tho not optically colorless; the night is dark, tho the stars shine. That is obscure, shadowy, or shady from which the light is more or less cut off. Dusky is applied to objects which appear as if viewed in fading light; the word is often used, as are swart and swarthy, of the human skin when quite dark, or even verging toward black. Dim refers to imperfection of outline, from distance, darkness, mist, etc., or from some defect of vision. Opaque objects, as smoked glass, are impervious to light. Murky is said of that which is at once dark, obscure, and gloomy; as, a murky den; a murky sky. Figuratively, dark is emblematic of sadness, agreeing with somber, dismal, gloomy, also of moral evil; as, a dark deed. Of intellectual matters, dark is now rarely used in the old sense of a dark saying, etc. See MYSTERIOUS; OBSCURE.

   Compare synonyms for LIGHT.

   Synonyms:
   black, dark, dismal, dusky, gloomy, murky, mysterious, obscure, opaque, sable, shadowy, shady, somber, swart, swarthy

   Antonyms:
   bright, brilliant, clear, crystalline, dazzling, gleaming, glowing, illumined, light, lucid, luminous, radiant, shining, transparent, white

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:2.9 / 9 votes

1. dim, subduedadjective

   lacking in light; not bright or harsh

   "a dim light beside the bed"; "subdued lights and soft music"

   Synonyms:
   dull, low-key, hushed, dumb, dense, muted, soft, dimmed, black, quiet, vague, subdued, low-keyed, faint, wispy, obtuse, shadowy, bleak, slow

   Antonyms:
   light, smart, distinct, hopeful

2. dim, faint, shadowy, vague, wispyadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   weak, shady, dull, wraithlike, dumb, shadowed, dense, faint-hearted, timid, undefined, swooning, dimmed, black, umbrageous, vague, fainthearted, subdued, feeble, faint, lightheaded, obscure, wispy, obtuse, light, shadowy, light-headed, wisplike, bleak, slow

   Antonyms:
   distinct, hopeful, smart, light

3. dimmed, dimadjective

   made dim or less bright

   "the dimmed houselights brought a hush of anticipation"; "dimmed headlights"; "we like dimmed lights when we have dinner"

   Synonyms:
   faint, dull, obtuse, shadowy, dense, slow, vague, dumb, dimmed, wispy, black, bleak, subdued

   Antonyms:
   hopeful, light, distinct, smart

4. black, bleak, dimadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   blackened, cutting, fatal, subdued, bootleg, faint, disgraceful, slow, calamitous, dumb, dark, dense, bare, raw, black, fateful, wispy, smuggled, inglorious, desolate, pitch-dark, pitch-black, grim, mordant, stark, dull, contraband, dimmed, shameful, disastrous, smutty, shadowy, barren, ignominious, vague, bleak, black-market, opprobrious, obtuse, sinister

   Antonyms:
   hopeful, distinct, smart, light

5. dense, dim, dull, dumb, obtuse, slowverb

   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"

   Synonyms:
   vague, ho-hum, muted, sluggish, subdued, deadening, faint, mute, slow, thudding, boring, dumb, dense, irksome, black, silent, wispy, heavy, purblind, muffled, tedious, impenetrable, dull, dimmed, speechless, shadowy, tiresome, softened, bleak, thick, wearisome, obtuse, leaden

   Antonyms:
   light, distinct, smart, hopeful

6. dim, dipverb

   switch (a car's headlights) from a higher to a lower beam

   Synonyms:
   plunge, blur, douse, souse, dip, slur, duck, sink, blind, dunk

   Antonyms:
   light, smart, hopeful, distinct

7. dimverb

   become dim or lusterless

   "the lights dimmed and the curtain rose"

   Synonyms:
   slur, blind, blur, dip

   Antonyms:
   light, distinct, smart, hopeful

8. dimverb

   make dim or lusterless

   "Time had dimmed the silver"

   Synonyms:
   slur, blind, blur, dip

   Antonyms:
   hopeful, distinct, smart, light

9. blind, dimverb

   make dim by comparison or conceal

   Synonyms:
   slur, blind, blur, dip

   Antonyms:
   distinct, smart, light, hopeful

10. blur, dim, slurverb

    become vague or indistinct

    "The distinction between the two theories blurred"

    Synonyms:
    smear, glaze over, smudge, slur, blur, blear, dip, obnubilate, obscure, blind, confuse, film over, smutch

    Antonyms:
    light, distinct, smart, hopeful

Matched Categories

1. • Change
   • Change Intensity
   • Darken
   • Weaken

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. dimadjective

   Synonyms:
   dusky, dark, obscure, shadowy, cloudy, not luminous

2. dimadjective

   Synonyms:
   dull, obtuse, slow to see

3. dimadjective

   Synonyms:
   darkened, obscured, clouded, faint, confused, shorn of its beams

4. dimverb

   Synonyms:
   darken, obscure, cloud

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. dimadjective

   Synonyms:
   obscure, indistinct, faint, sullied, blurred

   Antonyms:
   bright, vivid, intense, clear

2. dimverb

   Synonyms:
   bedim, obscure, darken, dull, eclipse, blur, tarnish

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "dim":

   imgs, img, bleak, sun, dimming, lol, blacked-out, gloomy, attenuate, attenuation, dimmer, dark, dimension

Suggested Resources

1. DIM

   What does DIM stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the DIM acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

How to pronounce dim?

How to say dim in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use dim in a sentence?

1. Paloma Garcia-Lee:

   To sit in a Broadway theater and the lights start to dim, it's not like the TV show you've been watching, broadway happens on one place on Earth in New York City in those select theaters. It's magic.

2. Milan Kundera:

   The light that radiates from the great novels time can never dim, for human existence is perpetually being forgotten by man and thus the novelists discoveries, however old they may be, will never cease to astonish.

3. Maurice Chevalier:

   Many a man has fallen in love with a girl in a light so dim he would not have chosen a suit by it.

4. Andrew Schneider:

   Greetings on this most exceedingly beautiful spring morning. A morning swollen with new life, a morning on which, if I had the voice, I would let loose with song. It's hard to believe just a few short weeks ago we were eating our cornflakes in the wintery dark. Now, well it's still kind of dim out there, but I can see the golden glow of Apollo's chariot waiting in the wings, about to make its entrance. Winter's on the lam, no doubt.

5. Tabetha Boyajian:

   Dust is most likely the reason why the star's light appears to dim and brighten, the new data shows that different colors of light are being blocked at different intensities. Therefore, whatever is passing between us and the star is not opaque, as would be expected from a planet or alien megastructure.