dim.
Not bright or colorful.
Meaning & usage
Not bright or colorful.
The lighting was too dim for me to make out his facial features.
Not smart or intelligent.
He may be a bit dim, but he's not entirely stupid.
Indistinct, hazy or unclear.
His vision grew dimmer as he aged.
Disapproving, unfavorable: rarely used outside the phrase take a dim view of.
Where this word comes from
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”).
Dimness.
Where this word comes from
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”).
To make something less bright.
He dimmed the lights and put on soft music.
To become darker.
The lights dimmed briefly when the air conditioning was turned on.
To render dim, obscure, or dark; to make less bright or distinct.
To deprive of distinct vision; to hinder from seeing clearly, either by dazzling or clouding the eyes; to darken the senses or understanding of.
To diminish, dull, or curtail.
All these setbacks had started to dim the hopes of the students.
Nothing will dim their spirit of resilience.
Where this word comes from
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”).
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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.