Obumbrate

//ɑˈbəmˌbreɪt// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To shade; to darken; to cloud. rare

    "those clouds, which did hang over and thus obumbrate him"

  2. 2
    To foreshadow, prefigure. obsolete, transitive
  3. 3
    past participle of obumbrate form-of, obsolete, participle, past
Adjective
  1. 1
    Lying under some projecting part, like the abdomen of certain spiders. not-comparable, rare
  2. 2
    Overshadowed, darkened. Scotland, not-comparable, obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms
becloudblack outblackenblot outbrowncloud

Example

More examples

"those clouds, which did hang over and thus obumbrate him"

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obumbrātus, perfect passive participle of obumbrō (“to overshadow, cloud”), from ob + to shade; see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

More for "obumbrate"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.