Dim Meaning
/dɪm/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot bright or colorful.
adjNot smart or intelligent.
Sentence Examples
We saw a dim light in the distance.
We saw a dim light in the darkness.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ lighting in the restaurant created a romantic atmosphere.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We saw a ____ light in the distance.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English dim, dym, from Old English dim, dimm (“dim, dark, gloomy; wretched, grievous, sad, unhappy”), from Proto-West Germanic *dimm, from Proto-Germanic *dimmaz (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰem- (“to whisk, smoke; obscure”). Compare Faroese dimmur (“dark”), Icelandic dimmur (“dark”) and dimma (“darkness”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"that sustaining Love / Which, through the web of being blindly wove / By man and beast and earth and air and sea, / Burns bright or dim"
— 1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy: […] Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […], 1927, →OCLC:
"All about me the Red Weed clambered among the ruins, writhing to get above me in the dim. Night, the Mother of Fear and Mystery, was coming upon me."
— 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 278:
"a king among his courtiers,[…] who out to dim the lustre of all his attendants"
— 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:
"Now ſet the ſun, and twilight dimm'd the ways, […]"
— 1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book II.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 42, line 501:
"And with our Sun-bright armour as we march,
Weel chaſe the Starrs from heauen, and dim their eies
That ſtand and muſe at our admyred armes."
— c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ lighting in the restaurant created a romantic atmosphere.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We saw a ____ light in the distance.