DIMMER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dimmer mean? 

• DIMMER (noun)
  The noun DIMMER has 1 sense:

1. a rheostat that varies the current through an electric light in order to control the level of illumination

  Familiarity information: DIMMER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIMMER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rheostat that varies the current through an electric light in order to control the level of illumination

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("dimmer" is a kind of...):

rheostat; variable resistor (resistor for regulating current)

 Context examples 

But because a red dwarf is dimmer overall than our Sun, a planet in the habitable zone would have to orbit much closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun.

(Mars Mission Sheds Light on Habitability of Distant Planets, NASA)

Astronomers can tell a lot about a star simply by its color, so this reddening effect can trick us into thinking a star is cooler and dimmer than it actually is.

(All we are is dust in the interstellar wind, NSF)

The new planet, K2-288Bb, orbits the smaller, dimmer star every 31.3 days.

(Citizen Scientists Find New World with NASA Telescope, NASA)

The study also factored in an ancient sun that was up to 30 percent dimmer.

(NASA Climate Modeling Suggests Venus May Have Been Habitable, NASA)

However, because the planet's host star is much dimmer than the sun, the planet is much colder than Earth — a little colder, in fact, than Jupiter's icy moon Europa.

(Newfound Frozen World Orbits in Binary Star System, NASA)

These ices are located on dust grains relatively close to the star, and all this dust and ice blocks out starlight making the star seem dimmer than it really is.

(NASA Team Probes Peculiar Age-Defying Star, NASA)

It also ruled out other possible astrophysical causes of the transit signal, such as the presence of a smaller, dimmer companion star in the system.

(NASA Planet Hunter Finds Earth-Size Habitable-Zone World, NASA)

Glowing gas on the left side of the disk moves toward us so fast that the effects of Einstein’s relativity give it a boost in brightness; the opposite happens on the right side, where gas moving away us becomes slightly dimmer.

(NASA Visualization Shows a Black Hole’s Warped World, NASA)

The study found 48 unique genes following aerobic exercise, and 348 unique genes following weight lifting, that were differentially expressed, meaning the exercises made the genes more powerful or less powerful, like a dimmer switch on a chandelier.

(Molecular Response of Muscle to Different Types of Exercise Identified, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)