EN

Synonyms for dim

71 synonyms
21 antonyms
5 meanings

adjective
verb

Most common

dark faint vague indistinct dull obtuse improbatory black

Synonyms by meaning

Adjective

1. Dark — indistinct, hazy or unclear

dark, faint, vague, indistinct, gloomy, shadowy, murky, obscure, distant, pale, hazy, cloudy, dusky, twilight, dusk, fuzzy, uncertain, ill-defined, blurred, muddy, undefined, indefinite

2. Dull — not smart or intelligent

dull, obtuse, feeble, slow, wan, dull-witted, stupid, dense, dull-headed, dreary, soft informal, somber US, sombre UK, slow-witted, foolish, confused, sluggish, lackluster US, lack-lustre UK, lacklustre UK, dim-witted, leaden, dopey, thickheaded informal, purblind formal

3. Improbatory — disapproving, unfavorable, rarely used outside the phrase take a dim view of

improbatory, reprobatory, reprobative, deprecative

4. Bleak

Other

Verb

1. Blur

blur, darken, shade, mist, eclipse, cloud, tarnish, slur, becloud, bedim, fog, blacken, blot, obfuscate

Other

Antonyms

light, bright, clear

All antonyms of dim →

Definitions

adj. 1
Not smart or intelligent.
He may be a bit dim, but he's not entirely stupid.
adj. 2
Indistinct, hazy or unclear.
His vision grew dimmer as he aged.
adj. 3
Disapproving, unfavorable: rarely used outside the phrase take a dim view of.
v. 1
To make something less bright.
He dimmed the lights and put on soft music.

Related words

Word family: dim-headed dimly dim-sighted dimwit
Phrases: dim bulb dim sum dim sim

Forms

Past participle: dimmed
e.g. dimmed → blurred, darkened, shaded, misted…

Choose the right word

or Dim?

Dim refers to imperfection of outline, from distance, darkness, mist, etc., or from some defect of vision.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

vague I deal in facts and figures, not vague impressions.
faint Faint footprints in the dust lead off to the east.
shadowy Kalman saw a shadowy figure lurking in the dark.
indistinct The squamosal bears an indistinct, gently curved ridge.
wan I only wan to avoid saying the wrong thing.
feeble The feeble patient is suffering from stomach cancer.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
dim		rising
vague		steady
faint		rising
shadowy		rising
indistinct		falling
wan		steady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: dip¹, fog¹, wan¹
4 letters: dark¹, slow¹, soft¹, pale¹, dull¹, mist¹, blur¹, dusk¹, slur¹, hazy², blot¹
5 letters: black¹, cloud¹, blind¹, shade¹, dense¹, vague¹, faint¹, fuzzy², muddy², bleak¹, murky², dusky, dingy², dopey²
6 letters: stupid², cloudy², gloomy², feeble², dreary², obtuse², somber², darken², sombre, leaden²
7 letters: distant², obscure², foolish², eclipse², blurred¹, subdued², shadowy³, tarnish², blacken², becloud
8 letters: confused², twilight², sluggish², purblind
9 letters: uncertain³, undefined³, obfuscate³
10 letters: indefinite⁴, indistinct³, lackluster³, lacklustre
11 letters: thickheaded, improbatory, reprobatory, reprobative, deprecative

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (hazy² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: tamisé