Adjective:
lacking in light; not bright or harsh;a dim light beside the bed
subdued lights and soft music
lacking clarity or distinctness;a dim figure in the distance
only a faint recollection
shadowy figures in the gloom
saw a vague outline of a building through the fog
a few wispy memories of childhood
made dim or less bright;the dimmed houselights brought a hush of anticipation
dimmed headlights
we like dimmed lights when we have dinner
offering little or no hope;the future looked black
prospects were bleak
Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult
took a dim view of things
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity;so dense he never understands anything I say to him
never met anyone quite so dim
although dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick
dumb officials make some really dumb decisions
he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse
worked with the slow students
Verb:
switch a car's headlights from a higher to a lower beambecome dim or lusterless;the lights dimmed and the curtain rose
make dim or lusterless;Time had dimmed the silver
make dim by comparison or concealbecome vague or indistinct;The distinction between the two theories blurred
adj.形容词
dim, darkdark与dim都有“黑暗”的意思,其区别是：
dark的意思是“黑暗的”,指黑暗无光,而dim的意思是“灰暗的”,表示由于光照不足所造成的昏暗状态,刚好达到看不清或分辨不清物体。修饰光线、灯光、阳光等只能用dim。例如:
With only the fire burning, the room was dim.只有火炉在燃烧,房里光线很暗。
He was reading a magazine under the dim light of a candle.他在微弱的烛光下看杂志。dark，dim，black，gloomy，obscure，vague，grey这些形容词都含有“完全地或不完全地缺少光亮”之意。
dark最普通用词，指缺乏自然光线或人工照明，使某物漆黑无光或光线十分微弱。
dim指光线不足或视力较差，不能清晰地看见物体。
black侧重颜色是黑色的，有时也指无光的黑暗。
gloomy指光线不足或部分光线受阻而出现的阴暗。
obscure指因光线不充足而使物体灰暗不清，失去光泽或若隐若现。作借喻时指因复杂、深奥或含糊而难于理解。
vague通常作借喻用，形容抽象事物。
grey与dark意思相近，但侧重阴暗单调的意味。
vague，dim，indefinite，obscure，ambiguous，faint这些形容词均含“不明确的，模糊的”之意。
vague多指因语言不确切，太笼统或因构思含糊、不完善而造成模糊难解。
dim侧重指或因光线暗淡，或因年代久远、身体欠佳等因素而产生视觉或察觉方面的困难。
indefinite指无明确定义或限定，重点或总体轮廓不明确。
obscure语气最强，指晦涩难懂。
ambiguous指文章或讲话中，意思可能有多种理解，令人捉摸不定。
faint指对某事物印象不深，或指声音微弱或希望的渺茫等。
直接源自古英语的dimm，意为暗。
用作形容词 adj.
～+名词dimrecollection依稀记得dim room光线暗淡的房间dim sound模糊不清的声音～+介词eyes dim with tears模糊的泪眼用作动词 v.～+副词dim abruptly突然地变暗dim prematurely过早地失去光泽dim scarcely光线减弱dim down the lights使灯光暗下来dim out a light使灯光转暗～+介词dim by clouds乌云使天色变暗dim with steam因有水汽而模糊dim with tears泪眼蒙眬
用作形容词adj.dim and distant很久以前 long past
用作动词v.
dim out v.+adv.
使…变弱 make (light fainter)
dim sth ⇔ outThe lights were dimmed out when the electricity supply was reduced.电力供应被削减后,灯光就变暗了。
dim up v.+adv.
逐渐增强 increase the brightness of (lighting gradually)
dim sth ⇔ upDuring the first scene, which begins early in the morning, we'll dim the lights up to give the effect of growing daylight.在从凌晨开始的第一场,我们将慢慢增强灯光,以达到天变亮时的效果。近义词 unclearadj. faint反义词adj. bright
用作形容词adj.
用作定语
～+ n.He sat in a dim corner.他坐在一个黑暗的角落里。
I have a dim recollection of it.我依稀记得这事。
用作表语
S+be+～Prospects for any early settlement of the dispute are dim.早日解决争端的前景并不乐观。
The outline of the mountain in the distance is dim.远处山脉的轮廓隐隐约约。
The old man's eyesight was dim.那位老人的视力很差。S+be+～+ prep .-phraseSome people are rather dim about the purposes of their lives.有些人稀里糊涂,不知他们生活的目的是什么。S+be+～+for sb+to- vThe light is too dim for me to read easily.光线太暗,我很难阅读。用作动词v.
用作不及物动词
S+～+AThe lights in the theatre began to dim.剧场的灯光开始暗下来。
The lights of his car dimmed when another car was coming from the opposite direction.当另一辆车从对面开来时,他减弱了他的车灯光线强度。
用作及物动词
S+～+ n./pron.He dimmed the wall lamp in the room.他把房间壁灯拨暗。
The candle light is dimmed by sunlight.烛光在阳光下变弱。
Her eyes were dimmed with tears.她泪眼模糊。
v.动词
dim的基本意思是通过减少照明等使事物的亮度和清晰度减弱,难以看清。
dim可用作不及物动词,意为“灯光等变暗淡”; 也可用作及物动词,意为“使灯光等变暗淡”或“使眼睛变模糊”。
dim接out可表示“变弱”,而dim up则指“逐渐增强”。
形容词71%,动词15%,名词14%
用作形容词Most comets are sodimthat they can not be seen by the naked eye.彗星很暗淡,肉眼看不见。
He spoke with firmness, but his face was very sad and his eyes at times weredim.他讲话时预期坚定，但面带愁容，时而眼神暗淡。
I made out twodimshapes in the gloom.我在朦胧中看出有两个模糊的影子。
She is ratherdimabout the importance of keeping records.她不明白作记录的重要性。用作动词Old age hasn'tdimmedher memory.她虽然年事已高，但记忆并未模糊。
The light of a candle isdimmedby sunlight.烛光在日光下显得很黯淡。
Pleasedimout the stage for the final scene.请在最后一场即将开演时使舞台灯光转暗。
My obscure lines shall not sodimtheir worth.我无名的诗行不会使他们黯然失色。
Decades don'tdimChina's memory of Sino-Japan war.时光并不能模糊中国对抗日战争的记忆。 I haven't the dimmest recollection of it.
脑子里一点影子也没有。《新英汉大辞典》
There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free;
企图解放一位丝毫没有不自由感的妻子是毫无意义的； tingroom
If there are more lights illuminating an object, the dimmest ones will be rendered as vertex lights.
如果有更多的光照亮一个物体，最暗的一个将作为顶点光源被渲染。 ceeger
The dimmest, most economical of those stars might live10 trillion years, a thousand times as long as the sun.
这类星体中那些最暗淡最经济的成员都可能活上十万亿年，这是太阳寿命的一千倍。 yeeyan