Vocab Day- Adumbrate

Welcome to the first Vocab Day post! It's really not all that exciting. On days when I don't have new work and can't find un-posted old work, I'll put up a cool word for you to drop in the day's conversations so your sentences will be nice and lumpy with out-of-place multisyllabic chunks of fancy-sounding vocabulary.


Today's word is...


Adumbrate (v. trans.)


New Oxford American Dictionary says:

1. report or represent in outline
2. indicate faintly
3. foreshadow or symbolize
4. overshadow

Here's an example of usage #1 from a New York Times article- 

"The subjects of Mr. Bush's domestic proposals are worthy enough, although he might have chosen other examples to adumbrate his vision."

Here's Germaine Greer with an example of usage #2 from a BBC panel review of Twelve by Nick McDonell-

"It strangely veers between innocence and awkwardness with the world, because they are kids, they're teenagers, and incredible sophistication. And all the time there's the adumbrated absent parent, who is actually a father. They're all somehow looking for this father who will make everything OK."

So go ahead and take this word to this weekend's cocktail parties- if you're the kind of person who would use "adumbrate," it's likely you needed a date anyway.

(Mostly kidding, people. Building vocabulary is great- but we all know that one guy with the word-a-day calendar...)