Dictionary

adumbrate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈædʌmˌbɹeɪt/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin adumbrātus (“represented in outline”), from adumbrāre (“cast a shadow on”), from umbra (“shadow”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To foreshadow vaguely.
   • This piece will perform a micro-excavation of these toplayers of the literary soil to suggest anxiogenic literature has the potential not only to adumbrate the post-apocalypse, a common theme in contemporary literature, but also to anticipate the post-Anthropocene. 2020, Kristen Figgins, “The Integrity of Nature”, in Jonathan Elmore, editor, Fiction and the Sixth Mass Extinction, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN:
   • From track level, its operating floor looks particularly capacious, but there is a vacant space at one end which was designed to accommodate the control panel for the Perth-Inverness C.T.C. scheme; this was adumbrated as long ago as the 1955 Modernisation Plan, but now seems to be regarded as an unjustifiable luxury. 1962 October, G. Freeman Allen, “The New Look in Scotland's Northern Division—II”, in Modern Railways, page 270:
2. (transitive) To give a vague outline.
   • Accordingly, even though readers always and understandably speak of the theories adumbrated by Socrates here as "Plato's theories", one ought not to speak of them so without some compunction--the writing itself, and also Plato the author, present these always in a spirit of open-ended exploration, and sometimes there are contextual clues indicating that Socrates exaggerates or goes what the argument truly justifies, and so on. 1996, John M. Cooper, “Introduction”, in Plato: Complete Works, Hackett, page xxii:
3. (transitive) To obscure or overshadow.

Forms

Deriveds

adumbrant · adumbration · adumbrative

Relateds

umbra#Derived_terms

Translations (32)

fi varjostaa (To obscure or overshadow.) · fr supputer (To foreshadow vaguely.) · pl naszkicować (To give a vague outline.) · ms mengalamatkan (To foreshadow vaguely.) · pl zapowiedzieć (To foreshadow vaguely.) · pl zagłuszać (To obscure or overshadow.) · nl overschaduwen (To obscure or overshadow.) · pl zarysować (To foreshadow vaguely.) · fi hahmotella (To give a vague outline.) · fi enteillä (To foreshadow vaguely.) · ja 予示する (To foreshadow vaguely.) · ja 暗くする (To obscure or overshadow.) · pl zapowiadać (To foreshadow vaguely.) · ja ぼんやりと暗示する (To foreshadow vaguely.) · pl przesłaniać (To obscure or overshadow.) · ms membayangkan (To give a vague outline.) · ms ممبايڠکن (To give a vague outline.) · pl zarysowywać (To foreshadow vaguely.) · fr pressentir (To foreshadow vaguely.) · pl zagłuszyć (To obscure or overshadow.) · pt adumbrar (To give a vague outline.) · pl szkicować (To give a vague outline.) · cs nastínit (To give a vague outline.) · de umreißen (To give a vague outline.) · pl zaciemniać (To obscure or overshadow.) · nl de contouren vluchtig schetsen (To give a vague outline.) · pl przesłonić (To obscure or overshadow.) · ru наброса́ть (To give a vague outline.) · ja 概説する (To give a vague outline.) · ms مڠعلامتکن (To foreshadow vaguely.) · pl zaciemnić (To obscure or overshadow.) · bg скицирам (To give a vague outline.)