dim

verb

dimmed; dimming

transitive verb

1

: to reduce the light from

dim the headlights

2

: to make dim or lusterless

dimmed their hopes of an early settlement

intransitive verb

: to become dim

the lights dimmed

their beauty had dimmed

Synonyms of dim

• obscure
• darken
• blur

Examples of dim in a Sentence

The latest setback has dimmed hopes of an early settlement.

Hopes of an early settlement have dimmed.

Recent Examples on the Web

After nearly eight decades of furnishing homes in the Charlotte region, a local retail fixture is preparing to dim its lights for the last time. —Charlotte Observer, 4 June 2026

When your bulbs skew warm and dim through the daytime hours, that alertness signal never fully fires. —Allison Palmer updated June 4, Sacbee.com, 4 June 2026

When the lights dim Saturday night, that same crew will have only until Monday morning to turn it back into a football field. —Emily Carmela Nelson, Idaho Statesman, 4 June 2026

The demise is hardly a unique story in the indie film universe — high-profile British productions like Simon Pegg’s Angels in the Asylum have gone down amid similar rancour — but this has not dimmed the sense of injustice felt by those who lost money. —Jake Kanter, Deadline, 3 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 2

Phrases Containing dim

• dim bulb
• dim sum
• dim view
• dim-witted
• take a dim view
• take a dim view of
• takes a dim view
• the dim and distant past

Rhymes for dim

• brim
• clim
• grim
• gym
• him
• hymn
• im
• limb
• mim
• prim
• rim
• scrim

Kids Definition

dim

1 of 2 adjective

ˈdim 

dimmer; dimmest

1

: not bright or clear : obscure, faint

a dim light

2

: being without luster : dull

dim colors

3

a

: not seeing or understanding clearly

dim eyes

b

: not seen or understood clearly

had only a dim notion of what was going on

dimly adverb

dimness noun

dim

2 of 2 verb

dimmed; dimming

1

: to make or become dim

2

: to reduce the light from

Medical Definition

dim

abbreviation

diminished