dim

1. (international standards)ISO 639-3language code forDime.
2. (mathematics)dimension
3. (music, popular music notation)diminished chord

   A C^dim chord is composed of C–E^♭-G^♭.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Dime terms

• enPR:dĭm,IPA^(key):/dɪm/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɪm

FromMiddle Englishdim,dym, fromOld Englishdim,dimm(“dim, dark, gloomy; wretched, grievous, sad, unhappy”), fromProto-West Germanic*dimm, fromProto-Germanic*dimmaz(“dark”), fromProto-Indo-European*dʰem-(“to whisk, smoke; obscure”). CompareFaroesedimmur(“dark”),Icelandicdimmur(“dark”) anddimma(“darkness”).

dim (comparativedimmer,superlativedimmest)

1. Notbright or colorful.

   Synonyms:dull,dingy;see alsoThesaurus:dim

   The lighting was toodim for me to make out his facial features.

   • 1821,Percy B[ysshe] Shelley,Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy:[…]Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […],1927,→OCLC:

     that sustaining Love / Which, through the web of being blindly wove / By man and beast and earth and air and sea, / Burns bright ordim

2. (colloquial) Notsmart or intelligent.

   Synonyms:seeThesaurus:stupid

   He may be a bitdim, but he's not entirely stupid.

3. Indistinct,hazy or unclear.

   Synonyms:seeThesaurus:indistinct

   His vision grewdimmer as he aged.

4. Disapproving, unfavorable:rarely used outside the phrasetake a dim view of.

   Synonyms:deprecative,improbatory,reprobative,reprobatory

dim (uncountable)

1. (archaic)Dimness.
   • 1898,H.G. Wells,The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page278:

     All about me the Red Weed clambered among the ruins, writhing to get above me in thedim. Night, the Mother of Fear and Mystery, was coming upon me.

dim (third-person singular simple presentdims,present participledimming,simple past and past participledimmed)

1. (transitive) To make something lessbright.

   Hedimmed the lights and put on soft music.

2. (intransitive) To becomedarker.

   The lightsdimmed briefly when the air conditioning was turned on.

3. To render dim, obscure, or dark; to make less bright or distinct.
   • 1695,C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated byJohn Dryden,De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London:[…] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […],→OCLC:

     a king among his courtiers,[…] who out todim the lustre of all his attendants

   • 1791,Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book II.”, inW[illiam] Cowper, transl.,The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London:[…]J[oseph] Johnson, […],→OCLC,page42, line501:

     Now ſet the ſun, and twilightdimm'd the ways,[…]

4. To deprive of distinct vision; to hinder from seeing clearly, either by dazzling or clouding the eyes; to darken the senses or understanding of.
   • c.1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe],Tamburlaine the Great.[…] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London:[…][R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published1592,→OCLC; reprinted asTamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press,1973,→ISBN,Act II, scene iii:

     And with our Sun-bright armour as we march,
     Weel chaſe the Starrs from heauen, anddim their eies
     That ſtand and muſe at our admyred armes.

   • 1740,Christopher Pitt,The Aeneid:

     Her starry eyes weredimm'd with streaming tears.

6. (figurative) Todiminish,dull, orcurtail.

   All these setbacks had started todim the hopes of the students.

   Nothing willdim their spirit of resilience.

   A glut mightdim the outlook for grain futures.

• dim mak(etymologically unrelated)
• dim sum(etymologically unrelated)

dim (notcomparable)

2. (music)Clipping ofdiminished.

• dim.(diminuendo)

• IMD,IDM,Mid.,MID,mid,'mid,mid-,DMI,MDI,IM'd

dim

1. (reintegrationist norm)third-personpluralpresentindicative ofdizer

• IPA^(key):[ˈdɪm]
• Hyphenation:dim

FromDutchduim.

dim (pluraldim-dim)

1. thumb
2. inch

   Synonym:inci

FromEnglishdimmer.

dim (pluraldim-dim)

1. high-beamheadlamp on a road vehicle

• “dim” inKamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta:Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Inherited fromProto-Slavic*dymъ.

• IPA^(key):/ˈdim/
• Rhymes:-im
• Syllabification:dim

dim m inan

1. smoke

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “dym”, inSłownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[1]
• “dim”, inInternetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby,2022

dim

1. third-personsingular/pluralpresentindicative ofdimēt
2. (with the particlelai)third-personsingularimperative ofdimēt
3. (with the particlelai)third-personpluralimperative ofdimēt

FromOld Norsedimmr. Related toEnglishdim andIcelandicdimmur.

dim (neuter singulardimt,definite singular and pluraldimme,comparativedimmere,indefinite superlativedimmest,definite superlativedimmeste)

1. dim
2. to have bad vision

   Han erdim på synet

   His vision isdim/bad/poor

• “dim” inThe Bokmål Dictionary.

From theOld Norse adjectivedimmr, fromProto-Germanic*dimmaz. The neuter noun is derived from the adjective. The automotive senses may be aBack-formation from of the verbdimme.

dim (neuter singulardimt,definite singular and pluraldimme,comparativedimmare,indefinite superlativedimmast,definite superlativedimmaste)

1. gloomy
2. dim
3. having bad vision

   Han erdim på synet

   His vision isdim/bad/poor

• dimma,dimme(verb)

dim m (definite singulardimmen,indefinite pluraldimmar,definite pluraldimmane)

1. (automotive,colloquial) aswitching of one'sheadlamps fromhigh-beam tolow-beam
2. (automotive,colloquial)lever,button or other
3. (dialectal)Clipping ofdimme(“twilight, half darkness”).

dim n (definite singulardimmet,uncountable)

1. (dialectal)dimmest,darkest part of thesummernight
2. (dialectal)twilight

   Synonym:skumring

dim m (definite singulardimmen,indefinite pluraldimmar,definite pluraldimmane)

1. (colloquial)Clipping ofdimensjon.

• “dim” inThe Nynorsk Dictionary.

• mid-

dim

1. Alternative form ofdimm

Inherited fromProto-Slavic*dymъ, fromProto-Balto-Slavic*dū́ˀmas, fromProto-Indo-European*dʰuh₂mós.

• IPA^(key):/dîm/

dȉm m (Cyrillic spellingди̏м)

1. smoke

• dimni signal

FromProto-Slavic*dymъ.

• IPA^(key):/dím/

dȉm m inan

1. smoke

• “dim”, inSlovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene),2014–2025

dim

1. Romanization of𒁴(dim)

Borrowed fromDutchduim.

dim

1. inch

• Coolsma, S (1913)Soendaneesch-Hollandsch Woordenboek (in Dutch), Leiden:A.W. Sijthoff's Uitgeversmaatschappij

dim

1. face

FromMiddle Welshdim, cognate with the rareOld Irishdim(“something, anything”) (which may be a Brythonic loanword), with further etymology uncertain. Matasović derives the word fromProto-Celtic*dis-smi-, dissimilated fromProto-Indo-European*dus-smi-(literally“bad one”).^[1] Alternatively, Morris-Jones hypothesizes the original meaning was“share, portion” and derives the word fromProto-Celtic*dīsman, fromProto-Indo-European*deh₂y-(“to share”).^[2]

Development of the particle sense (“not”) is an instance ofJespersen's Cycle.^[3]

• IPA^(key):/dɪm/
• Rhymes:-ɪm

dim

1. any
2. no,not,none

dim

1. (in negative phrases)nothing,anything

   Synonym:dim byd

2. none,nil,zero

• dim byd(“nothing”)
• dim ond(“only”)
• da i ddim(“good for nothing, useless”)
• dim o beth(“pipsqueak, knee-high to a grasshopper”)

• be',beth(“what”)
• pob dim,popeth(“everything”)
• rhywbeth(“something”)
• unrhyw beth(“anything”)

dim

1. not

As a verbal particle, almost always appears mutated asddim.

• ni(“not”)(literary)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “dim”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies