Meaning of "shadow" in the English dictionary

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD SHADOW

Old English sceadwe, oblique case of sceadushade; related to Dutch schaduw.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF SHADOW

shadow  [ˈʃædəʊ]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SHADOW

Shadow is a verb and can also act as a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb shadow in English.

WHAT DOES SHADOW MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Shadow

A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the light. Sunlight causes many objects to have shadows at certain times of the day. The angle of the sun, its apparent height in the sky causes a change in the length of shadows. Low-angles create longer shadows. There are three distinct parts of a shadow created by any non-point light source after impinging on an opaque object called the umbra, penumbra and antumbra. For a point source only the umbra is cast. These names are most often used for the shadows cast by astronomical objects, though they are sometimes used to describe levels of darkness, such as in sunspots. An astronomical object casts human-visible shadows when its apparent magnitude is equal or lower than −4. Currently the only astronomical objects able to produce visible shadows on Earth are the sun, the moon and, in the right conditions, Venus or Jupiter.

Definition of shadow in the English dictionary

The first definition of shadow in the dictionary is a dark image or shape cast on a surface by the interception of light rays by an opaque body. Other definition of shadow is an area of relative darkness. Shadow is also the dark portions of a picture.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO SHADOW

PRESENT

Present

I shadow

you shadow

he/she/it shadows

we shadow

you shadow

they shadow

Present continuous

I am shadowing

you are shadowing

he/she/it is shadowing

we are shadowing

you are shadowing

they are shadowing

Present perfect

I have shadowed

you have shadowed

he/she/it has shadowed

we have shadowed

you have shadowed

they have shadowed

Present perfect continuous

I have been shadowing

you have been shadowing

he/she/it has been shadowing

we have been shadowing

you have been shadowing

they have been shadowing

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I shadowed

you shadowed

he/she/it shadowed

we shadowed

you shadowed

they shadowed

Past continuous

I was shadowing

you were shadowing

he/she/it was shadowing

we were shadowing

you were shadowing

they were shadowing

Past perfect

I had shadowed

you had shadowed

he/she/it had shadowed

we had shadowed

you had shadowed

they had shadowed

Past perfect continuous

I had been shadowing

you had been shadowing

he/she/it had been shadowing

we had been shadowing

you had been shadowing

they had been shadowing

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will shadow

you will shadow

he/she/it will shadow

we will shadow

you will shadow

they will shadow

Future continuous

I will be shadowing

you will be shadowing

he/she/it will be shadowing

we will be shadowing

you will be shadowing

they will be shadowing

Future perfect

I will have shadowed

you will have shadowed

he/she/it will have shadowed

we will have shadowed

you will have shadowed

they will have shadowed

Future perfect continuous

I will have been shadowing

you will have been shadowing

he/she/it will have been shadowing

we will have been shadowing

you will have been shadowing

they will have been shadowing

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would shadow

you would shadow

he/she/it would shadow

we would shadow

you would shadow

they would shadow

Conditional continuous

I would be shadowing

you would be shadowing

he/she/it would be shadowing

we would be shadowing

you would be shadowing

they would be shadowing

Conditional perfect

I would have shadow

you would have shadow

he/she/it would have shadow

we would have shadow

you would have shadow

they would have shadow

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been shadowing

you would have been shadowing

he/she/it would have been shadowing

we would have been shadowing

you would have been shadowing

they would have been shadowing

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you shadow
we let´s shadow
you shadow

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to shadow

Past participle

shadowed

Present Participle

shadowing

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

SYNONYMS OF «SHADOW»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «shadow» and belong to the same grammatical category.

synonyms of shadow

apology · blight · cloud · cover · darken · darkness · dimness · dog · dusk · flicker · follow · ghost · glimmer · gloaming · gloom · gloominess · hint · jot · obscurity · outline · overhang · pall · penumbra · profile · protection · pursue · remnant · sadness · screen · shade · shape · shelter · shield · silhouette · stalk · suggestion · suspicion · tail · threat · tinge · touch · trace · track · trail · travesty · vestige · whiff

TRANSLATION OF SHADOW

Find out the translation of shadow to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of shadow from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «shadow» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 影子
• Translator English - Spanish: sombra
• English: shadow
• Translator English - Hindi: छाया
• Translator English - Arabic: ظِلّ
• Translator English - Russian: тень
• Translator English - Portuguese: sombra
• Translator English - Bengali: ছায়া
• Translator English - French: ombre
• Translator English - Malay: Bayangan
• Translator English - German: Schatten
• Translator English - Japanese: 影
• Translator English - Korean: 그림자
• Translator English - Javanese: Shadow
• Translator English - Vietnamese: cái bóng
• Translator English - Tamil: நிழல்
• Translator English - Marathi: सावली
• Translator English - Turkish: gölge
• Translator English - Italian: ombra
• Translator English - Polish: cień
• Translator English - Ukrainian: тінь
• Translator English - Romanian: umbră
• Translator English - Greek: ίσκιος
• Translator English - Afrikaans: skaduwee
• Translator English - Swedish: skugga
• Translator English - Norwegian: skygge

10 QUOTES WITH «SHADOW»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word shadow.

1

Jean Baudrillard

To love someone is to isolate him from the world, wipe out every trace of him, dispossess him of his shadow, drag him into a murderous future. It is to circle around the other like a dead star and absorb him into a black light.

2

Hilaire Belloc

Loss and possession, death and life are one, There falls no shadow where there shines no sun.

3

Naomi Benaron

I was brought up in the shadow of the Holocaust. My mother lost most of her family, and I didn't realize how much the guilt of survivorship weighed on her until I was an adult.

4

William Blake

Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.

5

John Bradshaw

Evil is a source of moral intelligence in the sense that we need to learn from our shadow, from our dark side, in order to be good.

6

Dan Brown

Washington, D.C., has everything that Rome, Paris and London have in the way of great architecture - great power bases. Washington has obelisks and pyramids and underground tunnels and great art and a whole shadow world that we really don't see.

7

Buddha

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

8

George Washington Cable

And in the afternoon they entered a land - but such a land! A land hung in mourning, darkened by gigantic cypresses, submerged; a land of reptiles, silence, shadow, decay.

9

Thomas Campion

Follow thy fair sun, unhappy shadow.

10

Oswald Chambers

The dearest friend on earth is a mere shadow compared to Jesus Christ.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SHADOW»

Discover the use of shadow in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to shadow and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

Soccer in Sun and Shadow

This new edition of Eduardo Galeano's riveting commentary on the history and politics of soccer includes newly written material on the 2002 World Cup, which one quarter of humanity watched.

Eduardo H. Galeano, 2003

Shadow Spinner

Every night, Shahrazad begins a story. And every morning, the Sultan lets her live another day -- providing the story is interesting enough to capture his attention. After almost one thousand nights, Shahrazad is running out of tales.

Susan Fletcher, 2011

Shadow

Adventure, romance, and magic fill this tale of a girl who longs for love and freedom, and above all, to know herself.

Jenny Moss, 2010

Short History of the Shadow

In this investigative tour de force, Victor I. Stoichita untangles the history of one of the most enduring technical and symbolic challenges to beset Western artists – the depiction and meanings of shadows.

Victor I. Stoichita, 1997

Ender's Shadow: Book One of The Shadow Trilogy

Orson Scott Card is one of the world's bestselling SF authors, and the award-winning Ender saga is one of the best-loved series in the genre. ENDER'S SHADOW is the first volume in a new Ender series.

Orson Scott Card, 2011

My Shadow

An illustrated version of the familiar poem describing the attributes of a child's shadow.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Monique Félix, 2002

Leonardo's Shadow: Or, My Astonishing Life as Leonardo Da ...

Fifteen-year-old Giacomo--servant to Leonardo da Vinci--helps his procrastinating master finish painting "The Last Supper" while also trying to find clues to his parentage and pursue his own career as an artist in late fifteenth-century ...

Christopher Grey, 2006

A Little Book on the Human Shadow

Robert Bly, renowned poet and author of the ground-breaking bestseller Iron John, mingles essay and verse to explore the Shadow -- the dark side of the human personality -- and the importance of confronting it.

Robert Bly, 2009

The Shadow Negotiation: How Women Can Master the Hidden ...

At last, here is a book that shows women how to recognize the Shadow Negotiation -- in which the unspoken attitudes, hidden assumptions, and conflicting agendas that drive the bargaining process play out -- and how to use that knowledge to ...

Deborah Kolb, Judith Williams, 2001

Shadow

Book 9 in the New Species series.

Laurann Dohner, 2012

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SHADOW»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term shadow is used in the context of the following news items.

Neil Gaiman American Gods TV series confirmed - who will play …

Who do you envision as Shadow Moon in #AmericanGods? Tweet us your thoughts with #CastingShadow. — American Gods (@AmericanGodsSTZ) June 16, ... «International Business Times UK, Jun 15»

Chuka Umunna eyes shadow foreign secretary role in run-up to …

Former Labour leadership candidate Chuka Umunna could be made shadow foreign secretary in the run-up to the 'in/out' referendum on the European Union in ... «Telegraph.co.uk, May 15»

Labour's new shadow cabinet lineup

Replacing the now-jobless Ed Balls, Leslie is promoted from shadow chief secretary ... Miliband as Labour leader, Burnham remains in the shadow health role. «The Guardian, May 15»

Twin Shadow's tour bus in 4-vehicle crash on I-70; 12 injured

In Aurora, a tour bus full of crew members for indie-rock musician Twin Shadow slammed into the back of a stopped semi-trailer on Interstate 70 in dense fog, ... «The Denver Post, Apr 15»

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Wins 17th Annual Game …

By Jenna Pitcher Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the role-playing game inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, won Game of the ... «IGN, Mar 15»

The shadow of Lewinsky: why Clinton deserves more respect

Painter Nelson Shanks's recent revelation that he showed the shadow of Monica Lewinsky's stained dress in his official portrait of Bill Clinton has garnered him ... «The Guardian, Mar 15»

Groundhog Day 2015: Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow, predicts six …

Punxsutawney Phil, the world's most beloved and furry seasonal prognosticator, saw his shadow on Monday morning (despite overcast skies), portending six ... «Washington Post, Feb 15»

Obama golfing with Derek Jeter – but Shadow Creek may be the …

President Obama is playing golf Saturday at Shadow Creek in North Las Vegas, one of the most exclusive courses in the world. Retired Yankee great Derek ... «Christian Science Monitor, Nov 14»

Labour leadership: There are several in the shadow Cabinet who …

Chuka Umunna is more flawed, but would also be more exciting. You could go through the shadow Cabinet and list at least four others who would be better than ... «The Independent, Nov 14»

'Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor' Review Part Two: Batman Walks …

Assassin's Creed fights so often boil down to one-hit killing everyone you encounter; not so in Shadow of Mordor, which requires you to whittle away at enemies ... «Forbes, Oct 14»