MEANING
1. To present the broad outline of something without developing its details.
2. To hint at or foreshadow a later event or development.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- adumbrate a theory
- adumbrate a plan
On the page
Her notes adumbrated a plan for the ruined observatory.
The letter adumbrated an argument that the trial would later expose.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- adumbrate
- Past tense
- adumbrated
- Past participle
- adumbrated
- Present participle
- adumbrating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- adumbrate
- Present continuous
- am/is/are adumbrating
- Present perfect
- have/has adumbrated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been adumbrating
- Past
- adumbrated
- Past continuous
- was/were adumbrating
- Past perfect
- had adumbrated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been adumbrating
- Future
- will adumbrate
- Future continuous
- will be adumbrating
- Future perfect
- will have adumbrated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been adumbrating
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: adumbrate; adumbrates; adumbrated; adumbrated; adumbrating Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: adumbrates.
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