shadow

Noun

• an inseparable companion
  • the poor child was his mother's shadow
    

• a spy employed to follow someone and report their movements

• a dominating and pervasive presence
  • he received little recognition working in the shadow of his father
    

• refuge from danger or observation
  • he felt secure in his father's shadow
    

• an indication that something has been present
  • there wasn't a trace of evidence for the claim
    
  • a tincture of condescension
    

• a premonition of something adverse
  • a shadow over his happiness
    

• something existing in perception only
  • a ghostly apparition at midnight
    

• an unilluminated area
  • he moved off into the darkness
    

• shade within clear boundaries

Verb

• make appear small by comparison
  • This year's debt dwarfs that of last year
    

• cast a shadow over

• follow, usually without the person's knowledge
  • The police are shadowing her
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  tail , shadower , trace , vestige , tincture , apparition , phantom , phantasm , phantasma , fantasm , darkness , dark , overshadow , dwarf , shade , shade off