Dictionary

dimly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ˈdɪmli/
• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English dim Middle English -ly English -ly English dimly From dim + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a dim manner; not clearly.
   • I began dimly to understand. 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
   • It was a miserable evening; outside it was snowing and blowing, and in the squire's parlour the candle burned so dimly that you could scarcely distinguish anything in the room but a clock-case with some Chinese ornaments, a large mirror in an old-fashioned frame, and a silver family tankard. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 249:
   • "The evil is for those benighted ones who will have none of it; seeing the light the true believers worship, as the fishes see the stars, but dimly." 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
   • The well-heeled gay yuppies of Bay Village would just as soon banish Drag Queens and hustlers entirely from their lives, only to dimly acknowledge them once a year in flowery paeans to "the gay men and Lesbians who rioted at Stonewall and gave birth to our movement" on Gay Pride Day. 1984 December 22, Ingrid Sell, “Changing Boston”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 23, page 4:

Forms

Translations (13)

hu halványan (in a dim manner) · fr vaguement (in a dim manner) · ca tènuement (in a dim manner) · oc vagament (in a dim manner) · fr obscurément (in a dim manner) · sk matne (in a dim manner) · oc escurament (in a dim manner) · es tenuemente (in a dim manner) · eo malklare (in a dim manner) · eo nebule (in a dim manner) · fr confusément (in a dim manner) · pt vagamente (in a dim manner) · fr faiblement (in a dim manner)