adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   In shadow; darkened by shadows.

   "He sat in a shadowy corner."

2. 2
   Dark, obscure.

   "He was a shadowy man who rarely spoke."

3. 3
   Vague, dim, unclear, faint of an image. figuratively
4. 4
   Indulging in fancies; daydreaming. dated, rare

Adjective

1. 1
   filled with shade wordnet
2. 2
   lacking in substance wordnet
3. 3
   lacking clarity or distinctness wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

indistinctwraithlikeair builtair-builtairyaleatoric

Example

More examples

"It's getting more and more shadowy, soon it will be twilight."

Etymology

From Middle English schadwy, schadowy, equivalent to shadow + -y.

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