• (RP) IPA: /ˌædʌmˈbɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, /-əm-/
• (GA) IPA: /ˌædəmˈbɹeɪʃ(ə)n/

adumbration

1. (uncountable) The state#Noun|state of being in shadow#Noun|shadow or shade#Noun|shade; (countable) a shadow.

   Synonyms: shading, shadowing

2. (countable) A faint#Adjective|faint sketch#Noun|sketch; a brief#Adjective|brief representation, an outline#Noun|outline.
   • 1627, [Francis Bacon], “II. Century. [Experiments in Consort Touching Exteriour, and Interiour Sounds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: Published after the authors death, by VVilliam Rawley; printed by I[ohn] H[aviland and Augustine Mathewes] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044242069 ↗; Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: Published […] by VVilliam Rawley. Printed by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], 1631, OCLC 1044372886 ↗, paragraph 186, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t8v991c13;view=1up;seq=72 page 54]:

     There is another Difference of Sounds, which wee call Exteriour, and Interiour. [...] Wee ſhall therefore enumerate them, rather than preciſely diſtinguiſh them; Though (to make ſome Adumbration of that wee meane) the Interiour is rather an Impulſion or Contuſion of the Aire, than an Eliſion or Section of the ſame.

   1. (specifically, heraldry) The outline of a charge, sometimes filled in with a dark#Adjective|darker shade than the field#Noun|field.
      • [1724, N[athan] Bailey, “ADUMBRATION ↗”, in An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for E. Bell, J. Darby, […], OCLC 819943732 ↗, column 2:

        ADUMBRATION, [in Heraldry] an abſolute taking away of the Charge or Thing born, ſo that nothing of it remains but the bare Proportion of the out Lines.]

3. (countable, uncountable, figuratively) A rough#Adjective|rough or symbolic representation; a vague indication of what is to come, a foreshadowing#Noun|foreshadowing.
   • 1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter XIX, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], OCLC 881857478 ↗, page 242 ↗:

     The exaggeration with darkness imparted to the glooms of this region impressed Henchard more than he had expected. The lugubrious harmony of the spot with his domestic situation was too perfect for him, impatient of effects, scenes, and adumbrations.

   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 42, in Ada, or, Ardor: A Family Chronicle, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Book Company, OCLC 799495966 ↗; republished Harmondsworth, London: Penguin Books, 1970, →ISBN, part 1, page 242 ↗:

     The merest adumbration of an apology on Baron Veen's part would clinch the matter with a token of gracious finality.

4. (countable, philosophy, specifically phenomenology) The form#Noun|form of an object#Noun|object as seen by an observer.

• adumber (rare)
• adumbrate
• adumbrative
• obumber (obsolete)
• obumbration
• umbra

• German: Abschattung, Beschattung
• Italian: adombramento, adombrazione

• German: Adumbration, Anriss, Entwurf, Schilderung, Skizze, Umrandung, Umriss
• Italian: abbozzo, schizzo
• Spanish: adumbracion, boceto, bosquejo, croquis, esbozo

• French: ébauche, ébauchement
• German: Abbild, Abriss, Metapher, Schattenriss, Umriss

• German: Andeutung

• German: Abbild, Abschattung, Projektion, Schatten, Schattenriss