Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Full of or dark with shadow: synonym: dark.
- adjective Casting shadows.
- adjective Lacking distinctness; faint.
- adjective Lacking substance; unsubstantial.
- adjective Little known or understood; obscure or mysterious.
- adjective Of questionable character; shady.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Full of, causing, or affording shadow or shade; shady; hence, dark; gloomy.
- Faintly representative; typical.
- Like a shadow; hence, ghostlike; unsubstantial; unreal; obscure; dim.
- Indulging in fancies or dreamy imaginations.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Full of shade or shadows; causing shade or shadow.
- adjective Hence, dark; obscure; gloomy; dim.
- adjective Not brightly luminous; faintly light.
- adjective Faintly representative; hence, typical.
- adjective Unsubstantial; unreal.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective In
shadow ; darkened by shadows. - adjective of character Dark,
obscure .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking clarity or distinctness
- adjective filled with shade
- adjective lacking in substance
Etymologies
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Examples
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Mr Obama has consistently railed against what he called "shadowy groups with harmless-sounding names", even using his 2010 State of the Union address to attack the Supreme Court for allowing their creation.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph Peter Foster 2012
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The government witness Atef Shafik, a senior language analyst for the FBI, made the argument that Muslims using common phrases that refer to peace and God are terrorists because the phrases reveal that they are Islamists, and this makes them part of the Muslim Brotherhood, which he described as a shadowy anti-Israel organization that calls for the destruction of the Western civilization from within, in order to replace it with an Islamic society.
Recent articles from SocialistWorker.org Candice Bernd 2009
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'' Are you going to suggest that talent is best served in shadowy corners of the industry? ''
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Are you going to suggest that talent is best served in shadowy corners of the industry?
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The less fortunate sleep in shadowy doorways, oblivious to noise through the mechanics of sniffed [...]
2006 July 2006
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The story, though shadowy, is starting to form in my head, as are the protagonists and antagonists.
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The less fortunate sleep in shadowy doorways, oblivious to noise through the mechanics of sniffed thinner.
A Haven of Peace 2006
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We show perhaps a little snippet from a Web site that we call a shadowy Islamic Web site, but actually, it's out there.
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He tends to operate behind the scenes, but his money stands tall, front and center, usually showing up in what some call shadowy organizations that pay for negative political advertisements that attack candidates who don't share his staunchly conservative, and pro-business values.
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We'd sit around the magazine guffawing at the ludicrous stories that kept sprouting, but belief in shadowy neocon influence has now hardened into common knowledge.
January 2004 2004
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