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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

adumbration.

The state of being in shadow or shade; (countable) a shadow.

11 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌædʌmˈbɹeɪʃ(ə)n/Received-Pronunciation/-əm-/Received-Pronunciation/ˌædəmˈbɹeɪʃ(ə)n/General-American
  1. The state of being in shadow or shade; (countable) a shadow.

    uncountable
  2. A faint sketch; a brief representation, an outline.

    countable
  3. A faint sketch; a brief representation, an outline. The supposed practice of displaying only outline of a charge (“image displayed on an escutcheon”), sometimes filled in with a darker shade than the field.

    countable · rare · specifically · uncountable
  4. A rough or symbolic representation; a vague indication of what is to come, a foreshadowing.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
  5. The form of an object as seen by an observer.

    countable · specifically
Where this word comes from

From Latin adumbrātiō (“sketch; outline, silhouette; pretence, semblance”) + -ion (suffix indicating a condition or state). Adumbrātiō is derived from adumbrāre (present active infinitive of adumbrō (“to represent an object with light and shade, to shade; to represent in outline, to outline, silhouette, sketch; to cast a shadow on, overshadow, shade; to copy, counterfeit, imitate”)) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or the results of actions). Adumbrō is derived from ad- (prefix meaning ‘to, towards’) + umbrō (“to cast a shadow, to shade; to overshadow”) (from umbra (“shade; shadow; ghost”)).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.