1
as in vague
not seen or understood clearly
the shadowy area between tough interrogation and torture
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in shady
protected from the sun's rays
a shadowy lane that is a mosaic of colors during the autumn foliage season
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shadowy
Bishop has repeatedly leaned into this history, conflating his situation with those of vaunted Civil Rights leaders, and blaming criticism or law enforcement on shadowy forces colluding to silence him.
—
David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2025
Pro-transparency efforts have begun illuminating previously shadowy aspects of judicial decisionmaking.
—Peter Martin, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
Decades before the memes and punchlines, the Broward native spawned a fictional franchise populated by preposterous oddballs, bottom-feeders and other shadowy denizens of the Sunshine State.
—Mark Gauert, Sun Sentinel, 26 Feb. 2025
The deal is now coming back to haunt them, as both the FBI and reporters at the Wall Street Journal narrow in on Ratliff's previous shadowy practices.
—Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shadowy
David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2025
Pro-transparency efforts have begun illuminating previously shadowy aspects of judicial decisionmaking.
—Peter Martin, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
Decades before the memes and punchlines, the Broward native spawned a fictional franchise populated by preposterous oddballs, bottom-feeders and other shadowy denizens of the Sunshine State.
—Mark Gauert, Sun Sentinel, 26 Feb. 2025
The deal is now coming back to haunt them, as both the FBI and reporters at the Wall Street Journal narrow in on Ratliff's previous shadowy practices.
—Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shadowy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shadowy
Adjective
-
When breaches do occur, the notifications are often vague or slow to arrive, leaving users unaware of the risks they have been exposed to—and unsure of how to respond effectively.—
Alex Vakulov,
Forbes,
23 Mar. 2025
-
Cooking up breakfast, lunch and dinner miles from the vaguest evidence of human civilization becomes easier than ever before.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
To his supporters, Trump is taking justifiable action over past shady behavior.—
Niall Stanage,
The Hill,
14 Mar. 2025
-
Desperate to make clear his intense dissatisfaction with how Beck’s operation is being run, McCabe — aka Xavier Quinn, a very big (and slightly amnesic) bad from Reacher’s past — had Paulie fetch Beck’s son Richard, who’d already lost an ear to his father’s shady alliances.—
Matt Webb Mitovich,
TVLine,
13 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
My duties typically involved being sent to the nearby New York Public Library to hunt down some faint memory scratching at Carter’s brain.—
Seth Abramovitch,
The Hollywood Reporter,
20 Mar. 2025
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Most of the files are scans of documents, and some are blurred or have become faint or difficult to read in the decades since Kennedy's assassination.—
Joel Shannon,
USA TODAY,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Thin lines and hazy glowing colors make the towering, randomized geometric structures look like something from a French comic book.—
PCMAG,
PCMAG,
16 Mar. 2025
-
In the late 1970s, Saturn’s odd moon Titan, a hazy orange world, was expecting visitors — first, NASA’s Pioneer 11 probe, then the twin Voyager spacecraft.—
Elise Cutts,
Quanta Magazine,
12 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shadowy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shadowy. Accessed 29 Mar. 2025.
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