Meaning & use
adumbration
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountableformal
A rough outline or faint suggestion of something that is not yet fully formed or fully shown.
Grammar: Often followed by of: an adumbration of the plan.
Patterns
- an adumbration of something
The first chapter offers only a brief adumbration of the book's argument.
His speech was an adumbration of the policies to come.
The sketch is just an adumbration of the final painting.
nouncountableliterary
A sign that warns of a future event before it arrives.
Grammar: Usually describes an omen: an adumbration of trouble.
Patterns
- an adumbration of something
The cold wind seemed an adumbration of the long winter ahead.
Critics saw the early strike as an adumbration of wider unrest.
The quiet streets were an eerie adumbration of the storm.
Word forms
| plural | adumbrations |
|---|
Common combinations
- a faint adumbration
- There was a faint adumbration of sadness in her smile.
- an early adumbration
- The novel contains an early adumbration of his later themes.
- a rough adumbration
- The report gives only a rough adumbration of the costs.
- an adumbration of the future
- The invention was an adumbration of the future of travel.
Synonyms and how they differ
- outline
- Outline is plain and neutral, while adumbration suggests something shadowy or only partly visible.
- foreshadowing
- Foreshadowing is the usual word for hints in a story, whereas adumbration also covers sketches and drafts.
- intimation
- Intimation is a subtle hint, but it rarely carries the sense of a rough preview of a design.
- sketch
- Sketch is a concrete rough drawing or summary, while adumbration is more abstract and formal.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: adumbration or umbrage?
adumbration vs umbrage
Umbrage means offense, as in take umbrage; it is unrelated in meaning to adumbration despite the similar sound.
Practice
The opening paragraph is only an ___ of the full argument that comes later.
Choose one answer.
An adumbration is a rough preview of something. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word, so it does not fit an argument.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “adumbration”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.