dim

adjective

\ ˈdim

dimmer; dimmest

Definition of dim

(Entry 1 of 4)

1a : emitting or having a limited or insufficient amount of light dim stars a dim lamp a dim hallway

b : dull, lusterless dim colors

c : lacking pronounced, clear-cut, or vigorous quality or character a dim echo of the past

2a : seen indistinctly a dim outline

b : perceived by the senses or mind indistinctly or weakly : faint had only a dim notion of what was going on

c : having little prospect of favorable result or outcome a dim future

d : 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

3 : not perceiving clearly and distinctly dim eyes

4 : dim-witted too dim to understand the joke

dim

verb

dimmed; dimming

Definition of dim (Entry 2 of 4)

transitive verb

1 : to make dim or lusterless dimmed their hopes of an early settlement

2 : to reduce the light from dim the headlights

intransitive verb

: to become dim the lights dimmed their beauty had dimmed

dim

noun

Definition of dim (Entry 3 of 4)

1 archaic : dusk, dimness

2 automotive vehicles : low beam

dim

abbreviation

Definition of dim (Entry 4 of 4)

1 dimension

2 diminished

3 diminuendo

4 diminutive

Other Words from dim Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about dim

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Examples of dim in a Sentence

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

It's generally accepted that across vertebrae species, cones are responsible for color vision and rods for detecting brightness in dim conditions. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Some Fish Can See in Color at 5,000 Feet Below Sea Level," 10 May 2019 Many trainers take a dim view of babying and otherwise anthropomorphizing our pets. — Peter Haldeman, New York Times, "The Secret Price of Pets," 4 July 2018 The lighting is dim, the couches are comfy, and the drink menu is extensive. — Audrey Gorden, RedEye Chicago, "Popping the cork on the best 'secret,' speakeasy-style bars in Chicago," 18 July 2017 At Triangle specifically, the lighting was kept dim, and the doors were kept locked during business hours to keep the women at their machines — or, according to some, due to the owners' paranoia that the workers were stealing. — Marlena Scott, Teen Vogue, "Many Women Who Died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 Were Young Immigrants," 25 Mar. 2019 As with the IdeaPad S340, panels run a bit on the dim side, from 220 nits to a tolerable 250 nits. — Gordon Mah Ung, PCWorld, "Lenovo's latest IdeaPads offer Intel, AMD, and an Nvidia mystery," 24 Feb. 2019 Claudio Alongi, Nino Negri’s other winemaker, descends into the dim cellars that reach four stories underground to taste tank samples and vintages at various stages of fermentation and aging, walking past century-old casks black with age. — Christopher Ross, WSJ, "The Hidden Valley in the Italian Alps Where Winemakers Are Working Against Nature," 15 Feb. 2019 Vases for flowers—so many vases, in the palest roses and dim violets. — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, "Sorry Marie Kondo—I Love Mess!," 12 Feb. 2019 The mount includes three clips that help keep the cord in place, and the cord has a dimmer as well. — Maya Mcdowell, House Beautiful, "This Mount Turns Any Pendant Light Into a Plug-In Lamp," 30 Jan. 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

In addition, the walls can detect and respond intelligently to the activity of electrical appliances — for example, dimming the lights when a TV is switched on — and sense the presence of people in a room. — David Freeman /, NBC News, "New smart wall lets you control your home with swipes, taps," 25 Apr. 2018 The strong words from the FDA and ACOG have not dimmed the appeal, or the big business, of these treatments. — Elizabeth Siegel, Allure, "Vaginal Rejuvenation Is on the Rise, But the Results Often Don't Live Up to the Hype," 27 Mar. 2019 By the late 1980s, Reynolds’s star had dimmed considerably. — Todd Vanderwerff, Vox, "6 performances that explain Burt Reynolds," 6 Sep. 2018 This stands to reason: Playwriting tends to be a young man’s game, and his creative flame had dimmed after three decades of exhaustingly hard use. — Terry Teachout, WSJ, "Neil Simon (1927-2018): The King of Stage Comedy," 26 Aug. 2018 There will be not as many flashing lights and dimmed sound and the actors will be ready for the fact that there may be audience participating a little more than the evening show that night. — Kathy Cichon, chicagotribune.com, "Youth theater presents 'Best of Broadway' show at Steel Beam," 14 June 2018 But in recent days, scandal has threatened to dim one of the Democratic Party’s brightest Southern stars. — Richard Fausset, New York Times, "‘I Know That God Will Forgive Me,’ the Nashville Mayor Says. But Will the Voters?," 6 Feb. 2018 These are priceless cornerstones of our collective memory, and age has not dimmed their power. — Melik Kaylan, WSJ, "‘Devotion and Decadence: The Berthouville Treasure and Roman Luxury From the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’ Review: Shining Silver From an Untarnished Trove," 31 Oct. 2018 Even the recent revelations of seemingly modest North Korean progress on missile technology and the production of nuclear fuel — including continued work on a new nuclear reactor that can produce plutonium — have not dimmed Mr. Trump’s enthusiasm. — David E. Sanger, New York Times, "How Trump Went From ‘Fire and Fury’ to Dismissing North Korean Nuclear Advances," 4 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Not because our desire for justice dims, but because the chance of achieving it does. — Fox News, "Tucker: Brett Kavanaugh and the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party," 18 Sep. 2018 David would drive to JPL's dim, theater-like mission-control room to get started, and Bryn would find things for the kids to do—taking them on late-night bike rides, to diners and all-night bowling alleys. — Jacqueline Detwiler, Popular Mechanics, "Inside the Jet Propulsion Laboratory: NASA's Crazy, Kooky, Legendary Research Facility," 3 Nov. 2016 From Earth, the immense stone appears as a dim yellow dot. — Fox News, "'Monster' asteroid 4 times than the UK is so close to Earth you can see it - and here's how," 27 June 2018 Our next stop, Golden Paramount, was a different kind of dim-sum experience. — Taras Grescoe, New York Times, "The Best Asian Food in North America? Try British Columbia," 4 June 2018 The house lights dim, an engine roars, and stars flame and flicker out. — New York Times, "Three Journeys Under the Radar: Trippy, Unsettling and Affectionate," 11 Jan. 2018 The real question is much tougher to answer: If LaBeouf’s instability informs his acting, will damping the one dim the other? — Matthew Brookes, Esquire, "Shia LaBeouf Is Ready To Talk About It," 13 Mar. 2018 With hopes for a broad budget agreement dim, Congress is expected to pass yet another short-term stopgap measure despite resistance from Republican deficit hawks and Democrats who want to cut a deal on immigration legislation. — The New York Times, New York Times, "Big U.S. Trade Gap Expected, and European Stimulus Plan at Issue," 4 Feb. 2018 Norwegian programmer and YouTuber Bjørn Nyland highlights an experiment in highway lights that auto-dim when nobody's around. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Highway Lights Save Energy by Dimming When No Cars Are Around," 4 Jan. 2018

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.