different between shadow vs revenant

English

Etymology

From Middle English schadowe, schadewe, schadwe (also schade > shade), from Old English s?eaduwe, s?eadwe, oblique form of s?eadu (“shadow, shade; darkness; protection”), from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skadwaz (“shade, shadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)?eh?- (“darkness”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: sh?d??, IPA^(key): /??ædo?/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sh?d??, IPA^(key): /??æd??/
• Rhymes: -æd??
• Hyphenation: shad?ow

Noun

shadow (countable and uncountable, plural shadows)

1. A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.

2. Relative darkness, especially as caused by the interruption of light; gloom, obscurity.
   • 1656, John Denham, The Destruction of Troy
3. A area protected by an obstacle (likened to an object blocking out sunlight).

4. (obsolete) A reflected image, as in a mirror or in water.
5. That which looms as though a shadow.

6. A small degree; a shade.
7. An imperfect and faint representation.
8. (Britain, law enforcement) A trainee, assigned to work with an experienced officer.
9. One who secretly or furtively follows another.
10. An inseparable companion.
11. (typography) A drop shadow effect applied to lettering in word processors etc.
12. An influence, especially a pervasive or a negative one.
13. A spirit; a ghost; a shade.
14. (obsolete, Latinism) An uninvited guest accompanying one who was invited.

    Synonym: umbra

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

15. (psychology) In Jungian psychology, an unconscious aspect of the personality.

Usage notes

• A person (or object) is said to "cast", "have", or "throw" a shadow if that shadow is caused by the person (either literally, by eclipsing a light source, or figuratively). The shadow may then be described as the shadow "cast" or "thrown" by the person, or as the shadow "of" the person, or simply as the person's shadow.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

shadow (third-person singular simple present shadows, present participle shadowing, simple past and past participle shadowed)

1. (transitive) To shade, cloud, or darken.

   The artist chose to shadow this corner of the painting.

2. (transitive) To block light or radio transmission from.

   Looks like that cloud's going to shadow us.

3. (espionage) To secretly or discreetly track or follow another, to keep under surveillance.
4. (transitive) To represent faintly and imperfectly.
5. (transitive) To hide; to conceal.
6. (transitive) To accompany (a professional) during the working day, so as to learn about an occupation one intends to take up.
7. (transitive, programming) To make (an identifier, usually a variable) inaccessible by declaring another of the same name within the scope of the first.
8. (transitive, computing) To apply the shadowing process to (the contents of ROM).

Derived terms

• beshadow
• foreshadow
• overshadow
• unshadow

Translations

Adjective

shadow (comparative more shadow, superlative most shadow)

1. Unofficial, informal, unauthorized, but acting as though it were.

   The human resources department has a shadow information technology group without headquarters knowledge.

2. Having power or influence, but not widely known or recognized.

   The director has been giving shadow leadership to the other group's project to ensure its success.

   The illuminati shadow group has been pulling strings from behind the scenes.

3. (politics) Acting in a leadership role before being formally recognized.

   The shadow cabinet cannot agree on the terms of the agreement due immediately after they are sworn in.

   The insurgents’ shadow government is being crippled by the federal military strikes.

4. (Australia, politics) Part of, or related to, the opposition in government.

Derived terms

• shadow government
• shadow price

English

Etymology

19th century. From French revenant, the present participle of revenir (“to return”). Compare revenue.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???v?n?nt/

Noun

revenant (plural revenants)

1. Someone who returns from a long absence.
   • 1886, Mrs Lynn Linton, Paston Carew viii, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595:

     They would not visit this undesirable revenant with his insolent wealth and discreditable origin.

   • 1895 August 31, Daily News 4/7, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595:

     The undergraduates, our fogey revenant observes, look much as they did.., in outward aspect.

   • 2008, Andrew Cusack, Wanderer in 19th-Century German Literature, Camden House, ?ISBN, page 91:

     From this moment on, the hero's fate is sealed; an attempt to reestablish himself in human society, though initially successful, inevitably fails. The stone tablet exerts an invincible fascination over the revenant, who becomes so withdrawn that his father implores him: […]

2. A person or thing reborn.
   • 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, page 184:

     Sometimes […] semi-identifications could be made on the basis of names. Henry VII's son Arthur was hailed as a revenant in this way.

3. A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.
   • 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History

     For granting even that Religion were dead; that it had died, half-centuries ago, with unutterable Dubois; or emigrated lately, to Alsace, with Necklace-Cardinal Rohan; or that it now walked as goblin revenant with Bishop Talleyrand of Autun; yet does not the Shadow of Religion, the Cant of Religion, still linger?

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ghost

Translations

Adjective

revenant (comparative more revenant, superlative most revenant)

1. Returning.
   • 1988, Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses, Random House (2008), page 134:

     On clear nights when the moon was full, she waited for its shining revenant ghost.

Anagrams

• Tavenner, venerant

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.v(?).n??/

Verb

revenant

1. present participle of revenir

Noun

revenant m (plural revenants, feminine revenante)

1. A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.
2. A person who returns after a long absence

Further reading

• “revenant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• énervant, vénérant