shadow

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Definitions (82)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (29)

  1. noun An area that is not or is only partially irradiated or illuminated because of the interception of radiation by an opaque object between the area and the source of radiation.
  2. noun The rough image cast by an object blocking rays of illumination. See Synonyms at shade.
  3. noun An imperfect imitation or copy.
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Examples

  • She dances in the shadows; like a shadow is her hair. —  Arrow's Fall
  • Right now his shadow was a long red thing, with the lowest third of it gray, where the Lagrange II shadow coincided. —  The Martian Way
  • The catchy-carry-kind still lay on his boulder; beneath his shadow were the gourds, now empty of food and drink, and his forlorn retinue, hands to the sky, eyes to the ground. —  HOTHOUSE
  • For one thing, the shadow was always there, clear sky or cloudy, its contours immutable and unchanging. —  The Town
  • Cleland spoke confidently, in his element. —  Starfarers
 

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Shadow has been looked up 596 times, favorited twice, listed 70 times, and commented on 3 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

darkness ·  shade ·  cloud ·  light ·  shape ·  wave ·  image ·  sound ·  face ·  wall ·  forest ·  sight
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English sceaduwe, oblique case of sceadu, shade, shadow.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also shaddow, shadoe; from Middle English schadowe, schadewe, shadwe, schadue, from Anglo-Saxon sceadu, sceado (genitive sceadwe, sceade), feminine (also scead (genitive sceades, scedes), neuter), = Old Saxon skado = Middle Dutch schaeduwe, schaedue, schaede, Dutch schaduw = Middle Low German schaduwe, schadewe, schede = Old High German scato, Middle High German schate, German schatten = Gothic (Moesogothic) skadus, shadow, shade, = Old Irish scath, Irish sgath, Gaelic sgath, shade, shadow, shelter (cf. Old Irish scāil, shadow), perhaps = Greek σκότος (also σκοτία), darkness, gloom, from √ ska, cover; perhaps akin also to Greek σκιά, shade, shadow, σκηνή, a tent (later English scene), Sanskrit chhāyā, shade, etc. Hence the later form shade, q. v.
  2. from Middle English shadwen, schadowen, schadewen (Kentish ssedwi), from Anglo-Saxon sceadwian, scadewian = Old Saxon skadoian, skadowan = Dutch schaduwen = Old Low German scadowan = Old High German scatewen, Middle High German schatewen, German überschatten = Gothic (Moesogothic) skadwjan (in comp. ufar-skadwjan, overshadow); from the noun. Cf. shade, v.
 

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/ˈʃædoʊ/
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