shadow

1 partial darkness due to the obstruction of light rays the valley was in shadow Synonyms dusk, penumbra, shadiness, shade, umbraRelated Words blackness, dimness, duskiness, gloom, gloominess, murkiness, obscurity, semidarkness, somberness; cloudinessNear Antonyms brightness, brilliance, effulgence, illumination, incandescence, light, lightness, lucidity, lucidness, luminance, luminosity, luminousness, radiance, radiancy

2 shadows pl  a time or place of little or no light lurking in the shadows Synonyms black, blackness, candlelight, darkness, dusk, gloaming, gloom, murk, night, semidarkness, shade, shadows, twilight, umbraRelated Words midnight; blackout, brownout, dimout; shadiness, umbrage; dullness (also dulness), somberness; cloudiness, fogginess, haziness, mistiness, murkiness; dimness, faintness, gloominess, grayness, paleness; half-lightNear Antonyms moonlight, starlight, sunlight; effulgence, radiance, radiancy, shine, sunshine; incandescence, luminance, luminescence, luminosity, luminousnessAntonyms blaze, brightness, brilliance, day, daylight, glare, glow, light, lightness

3 a tiny often physical indication of something lost or vanished a run-down mansion that is only a shadow of its former glory Synonyms echo, ghost, relic, vestige, traceRelated Words memento, remembrance, reminder; artifact; afterimage, aftertaste; balance, corpse, hangover, leftover, oddment, remainder, remnant, scrap; dreg(s), leavings, remain(s), residual, residue, rest

4 a very small amount not even a shadow of a doubt about the defendant's guilt Synonyms ace, bit, crumb, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, hint, lick, little, mite, nip, ounce, peanuts, ray, scintilla, scruple, shade, particle, shred, skosh, smack, smell, smidgen (also smidgeon or smidgin or smidge), snap, soupçon, spark, spatter, speck, splash, spot, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, touch, traceRelated Words hoot, iota, jot, minim, minimum, modicum, semblance, syllable, tittle, vestige, whit; atom, dot, fleck, flyspeck, grain, granule, molecule, morsel, mote, nubbin, patch, scrap; dash, drop, pinch; part, portion, section; bite, nibble, taste; handful, scattering, smatter, smattering; dose, shot; chip, flake, fragment, shard, shiver, sliver, smithereens, splinter; shred, tatter; clipping, paring, shavingNear Antonyms abundance, barrel, boatload, bucket, bundle, bushel, deal, fistful, gobs, heaps, lashings (also lashins) [chiefly British], loads, lot, mass, mess, mountain, much, oodles, passel, peck, pile, plenty, potful, profusion, quantity, raft, reams, scads, stack, wad, wealth; volume; bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overflow, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus; chunk, hunk, lump, slab

5 the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people rumors of a shadow haunting the castle Synonyms apparition, bogey (also bogie or bogy), familiar spirit, hant [dialect], haunt [chiefly dialect], materialization, phantasm (also fantasm), phantom, poltergeist, shade, ghost, specter (or spectre), spirit, spook, sprite, vision, visitant, wraithRelated Words angel, daimon, familiar, genie, genius, jinni (or jinn also djinni or djinn), shaitan; double, doppelgänger (or doppelganger), fetch; lemures, manes; incubus, lamia, succubus, vampire, zombie (also zombi); cacodemon, demon (or daemon), devil, fiend, ghoul, imp

6 an overspreading element that produces an atmosphere of gloom the husband's adulterous affair had cast over their marriage a shadow from which there was no escape Synonyms darkness, pall, cloudRelated Words fog, haze, mist, murk, penumbra, umbra; midnight, night; mantle, shroud, veil

1 to go after or on the track of shadowing the suspect to see what he was up to Synonyms bird-dog, chase, course, dog, hound, pursue, run, follow, tag, tail, trace, track, trailRelated Words accompany, chaperone (or chaperon), escort; hunt, search (for), seek; eye, observe, watchNear Antonyms headAntonyms guide, lead, pilot

2 to make dark, dim, or indistinct thickening clouds shadowed the countryside Synonyms becloud, bedim, befog, blacken, blear, blur, darken, dim, dislimn, fog, fuzz (up), haze, mist, obscure, overcast, overcloud, overshadow, cloud, shroudRelated Words adumbrate, blot out, conceal, eclipse, hide, obliterate, screen, shade; camouflage, cloak, cover, curtain, disguise, mask, veilNear Antonyms expose, reveal, uncover, unveilAntonyms brighten, illuminate, illumine, light (up), lighten

3 to shelter (something) from light and heat a pathway shadowed by a canopy of arching branches Synonyms shadeRelated Words cloud, darken, dim, dull, overcast, overshadow; canopy, cover, protect, screenNear Antonyms illuminate, light, lighten; expose