Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Being in the shade or in retirement; secluded.
  • Pertaining to or resembling a shadow or shadows; shadowy.
  • Unreal; unsubstantial.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective rare Umbratic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Shady, shadowy.
  • noun Someone who spends their time in shade or darkness.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin umbratilis, from umbra.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word umbratile.

Examples

  • Sometimes Boyle felt that although humans are made in God's image they, like other created beings, are "at their best but umbratile, and Arbitrary Pictures of God their Creatour" (BP 4: 4, BOA §2. 2.38, p. 145).

    Sticky Wants to Grab 2009

  • Evelyn, “borne on a branch set with thorns, and accompanied with the lily, are natural hieroglyphics of our fugitive, umbratile, anxious, and transitory life, which, making so fair a show for a time, is not yet without its thorns and crosses.”

    The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon 2002

  • Evelyn, "borne on a branch set with thorns and accompanied with the lily, are natural hieroglyphics of our fugitive, umbratile, anxious, and transitory life, which, making so fair a show for a time, is not yet without its thorns and crosses."

    The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon Washington Irving 1821

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • See umbratic

    July 9, 2008