dimly
/ˈdɪmli/adverb
dimly is spelled D-I-M-L-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, dimly means “In a dim manner; not clearly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in dimly?
| Letters | 5: D-I-M-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 37,459th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is dimly?
Dimly appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce dimly?
- /ˈdɪmli/
Dimly has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-dimly.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dimly
- more dimly comparative
- most dimly superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dimly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a dim manner; not clearly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dimly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in a dim manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | faiblement, obscurément, vaguement, confusément |
| Portuguese | vagamente |
| Spanish | tenuemente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does dimly come from?
From dim + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).