Dim

How to spell dim

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce dim

What does dim mean?

1. adjectiveGiving or having little light; not bright or clear.
2. verbTo make or become less bright.

Dim in a sentence

• adjective

  The restaurant kept the lighting dim to create a relaxed mood.

• verb

  Please dim the headlights when another car approaches.

• adjective

  Reading in such dim light strained her eyes after an hour.

• verb

  The staff began to dim the house lights before the film started.

Where does dim come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Dim comes straight from Old English 'dimm', an adjective that meant dark, gloomy, or obscure, and it has stayed remarkably close to that original sense for over a thousand years. The word has solid Germanic roots and is related to older forms in the Scandinavian languages, where similar words described a misty or faded light. In Middle English a verb 'dimmen' developed naturally from the adjective, meaning to grow dark or to make something darker. The figurative use, calling a slow-witted person 'dim', is a much later and chiefly British colloquial extension, picturing a mind that is poorly lit. Because the word is so short and phonetically regular, with a clean single 'm' in the base form, it presents no real spelling puzzle, though the doubled consonant returns in 'dimmer' and 'dimming'.

How the word is built

• dim (a single Old English root meaning dark or faint; no prefix or suffix)