1
as in darkened
being without light or without much light
a dim, windowless room in the basement of the house
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dulled
lacking a surface luster or gloss
over time, exposure to ultraviolet light will make bright pigments turn dim
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3
as in vague
not seen or understood clearly
have only a dim knowledge of the subject
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4
as in slow
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
our dog is kind of dim, but very sweet-natured
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as in to obscure
to make dark, dim, or indistinct
the storm clouds dimmed our view of the city from the airplane
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dim
Rachel Gillett, Martha Stewart, 31 Jan. 2026
The bed is surrounded by almost 360 degrees of glass, and schools of fish, octopus and squid regularly travel by (at night, dim lights are activated to attract nocturnal marine life).
—Catherine Garcia, TheWeek, 28 Jan. 2026
Cyril Soliman, The Drive, 5 Feb. 2026
Only a few stones had been thrown Wednesday in the set of mixed doubles curling matchups that kicked off these 2026 Games when some of the lights briefly went out inside the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, dimming the arena and delaying play.
—Zack Pierce, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dim
Adjective
Grow lights can supplement natural sunlight or replace it entirely in dim rooms.
—Rachel Gillett, Martha Stewart, 31 Jan. 2026
The bed is surrounded by almost 360 degrees of glass, and schools of fish, octopus and squid regularly travel by (at night, dim lights are activated to attract nocturnal marine life).
—Catherine Garcia, TheWeek, 28 Jan. 2026
Verb
Features such as a dimming panoramic sunroof feel lifted from luxury EVs that cost over twice as much.
—Cyril Soliman, The Drive, 5 Feb. 2026
Only a few stones had been thrown Wednesday in the set of mixed doubles curling matchups that kicked off these 2026 Games when some of the lights briefly went out inside the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, dimming the arena and delaying play.
—Zack Pierce, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dim
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dim
Adjective
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Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui posted a video to X over the weekend, showing a dazzling view of auroras spreading like a tall blanket over the darkened Earth below.—
Josh Dinner,
Space.com,
15 Jan. 2026
-
Over the weekend, around 16,000 people paid their respects to the designer at his funeral chamber at the Armani Teatro designed by Tadao Ando, filled with white flowers and paper lanterns on the floor in a diagonal grid formation dimly lit up the darkened venue.—
Luisa Zargani,
Footwear News,
10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Young Rod went off to France by himself, and on a visit to Chartres, standing in the nave of the cathedral, he was overcome by a vague but powerful sense that God was real.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
13 Feb. 2026
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Some scholars suspect that his race was deliberately kept vague and note that, at the time, even those from other European countries like Italy or Spain would have been discriminated against by Brits.—
Ellise Shafer,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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That builds on similar trends throughout 2025, when the industry buoyed an otherwise slow labor market, as the nation’s hospitals, clinics and nursing homes kept hiring even as many employers pulled back.—
Abha Bhattarai,
Washington Post,
14 Feb. 2026
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Any type of realism was [limited to] very short clips, everything was very slow, bad textures, no skin textures, lacking detail.—
Arjun Kharpal,
CNBC,
14 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The individual, their face covered in a ski mask, appears to fiddle with the camera with a gloved hand before turning away to look for something to obscure the lens.—
Anna Kaufman,
USA Today,
11 Feb. 2026
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But despite the new program’s promising rhetoric, the scientific framing of the announcement obscures a deeper policy problem.—
Washington Post,
Washington Post,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The activist also went full glam on her flight, looking radiant in bronzy makeup, complete with dark eyeliner, fluttery eyelashes, fluffy eyebrows, luminous skin, and glossy lips.—
Christina Perrier,
InStyle,
10 Feb. 2026
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More dark, romantic beauty inspiration.—
Jesa Marie Calaor,
Allure,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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But all work and no play can make for a dull chief medical officer.—
Ed Silverman,
STAT,
30 Jan. 2026
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People living in Bridgeville were excited to see dull pavement.—
Chris Hoffman,
CBS News,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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To observe the faintest and most distant objects in the universe, telescopes need dark, dry and stable skies, conditions that are increasingly rare on Earth.—
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry,
Space.com,
9 Feb. 2026
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Kabocha is usually dark green or orange with faint stripes or bumps on the outside, with vibrant orange flesh on the inside.—
Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner,
Martha Stewart,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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These apps often default to a faster, dumber model.—
Matt Shumer,
Fortune,
11 Feb. 2026
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Who, other than dumb people like me, are gonna recruit high school kids?—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dim.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dim. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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