shadow of one's former self
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Someone who has greatly deteriorated physically or mentally
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
ai đó đã suy giảm rất nhiều về thể chất hoặc tinh thần
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a faint image of what one used to be
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
After the illness, he was a shadow of his former self.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “shadow of one's former self” mean?
Someone who has greatly deteriorated physically or mentally Literally: a faint image of what one used to be
Is “shadow of one's former self” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.