Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being dim or obscure; want of clearness, brightness, or distinctness; dullness; vagueness: applied either to the object or to the medium of vision or perception: as, the dimness of a view, of color, or of gold; the dimness of twilight or of the sky; dimness of vision, of understanding, memory, etc.
  • noun Synonyms Obscurity, Gloom, etc. See darkness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state or quality � being dim; lack of brightness, clearness, or distinctness; dullness; obscurity.
  • noun Dullness, or want of clearness, of vision or of intellectual perception.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being dim, poorly illuminated, almost dark.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the property of lights or sounds that lack brilliance or are reduced in intensity
  • noun the quality of being dim or lacking contrast
  • noun the state of being poorly illuminated

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A thick fog wrapped the world in dimness early this morning; at eight o'clock it was rolling off and piling itself in glorious headlands

    An Island Garden 1894

  • Some people may find cooking and eating in dimness romantic, but we’d prefer that it be a choice and not a requirement.

    December « 2009 « L.E. Modesitt, Jr. – The Official Website 2009

  • Some people may find cooking and eating in dimness romantic, but we’d prefer that it be a choice and not a requirement.

    The Dimming of America « L.E. Modesitt, Jr. – The Official Website 2009

  • After a while, up came a man and saying, “This is a fox whose gall cleareth away film and dimness from the eyes, if they be anointed therewith like kohl,” took out his knife to slit up the fox’s paunch.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • In such a dimness was my head that I felt neither the soreness of my wounds nor the cuts of thorns on my knees, but stumbled towards the mill, almost past fear of man and death, panting with fear of the darkness that crept behind me from trunk to trunk.

    The Prussian Officer and Other Stories 2003

  • As somber in the dimness were the portraits that stared from their frames.

    The Stars Are Also Fire Anderson, Poul, 1926-2001 1994

  • As somber in the dimness were the portraits that stared from their frames.

    The Stars Are Also Fire Anderson, Poul, 1926-2001 1994

  • Doubtful it may be, whether it should be called dimness of understanding, or rather perverse ingenuity, that men reason thus, when the facts are: So general is the disposition to abuse power, that wherever it is accumulated, it will surely be abused; accordingly it must be distributed as equally as possible.

    The Growth of Thought As Affecting the Progress of Society William Withington

  • Joan saw and heard so much, then through a kind of dimness, that she could not wipe away, her eyes beheld Jim.

    The Border Legion Zane Grey 1905

  • Let us remember, in our judgment of what may appear to us even grave errors of opinion in the book, that its author has fought for every step of ground that has been gained of late years by spiritual religion in Germany; and, while we lament the "dimness" which this great man confesses with such Christian-like humility, let us acknowledge the grandeur of his idea of the kingdom of God, and the earnestness of his devotion to it.

    The Life of Jesus Christ in Its Historical Connexion and Historical Developement. 1789-1850 1870

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