Word.ws English Dictionary

dimming

/ˈdɪmɪŋ/

dimming is the present participle and gerund of dim.

Meaning of dim

Verb

dim (third-person singular simple present dims, present participle dimming, simple past and past participle dimmed)

  1. (transitive) To make something less bright.
    • He dimmed the lights and put on soft music.
  2. (intransitive) To become darker.
    • The lights dimmed briefly when the air conditioning was turned on.
  3. To render dim, obscure, or dark; to make less bright or distinct.
    • a king among his courtiers,[…] who out to dim the lustre of all his attendants1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC
  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.
    • And with our Sun-bright armour as we march,
      Weel chaſe the Starrs from heauen, and dim their eies
      That ſtand and muſe at our admyred armes.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  5. (figuratively) To diminish, dull, or curtail.
    • All these setbacks had started to dim the hopes of the students.

See all 11 meanings of dim

Noun

dimming (plural dimmings)

  1. The process of becoming dim.
    • Then, as also happens, there were slowdowns; dimmings, even blackouts here and there.2008 March 28, Holland Cotter, “When the Islamic World Was Inspired by the West”, in New York Times

Forms of dimming

pluraldimmings

Words formed from dimming

Words that rhyme with dimming

Questions about dimming

What does dimming mean?
Dimming means the process of becoming dim.
What is dimming the present participle and gerund of?
Dimming is the present participle and gerund of dim.
What part of speech is dimming?
Dimming is a noun.
How do you pronounce dimming?
Dimming is pronounced /ˈdɪmɪŋ/.
What is the plural of dimming?
The plural of dimming is dimmings.

Words near dimming in the dictionary

  1. dimmets
  2. Dimmick
  3. Dimmicks
  4. dimmie
  5. dimmies
  6. dimming
  7. dimmings
  8. dimmish
  9. dimmit
  10. Dimmit County
  11. dimmities

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dimming (page history and authors); dim (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “dimming.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dimming. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.