English

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

live in the shadow of (third-person singular simple present lives in the shadow of, present participle living in the shadow of, simple past and past participle lived in the shadow of)

  1. (literal) To live in the shadow cast by a structure.
  2. (idiomatic) To be overshadowed one's entire life, especially by a relative or predecessor.
    • 1995, Robert Smith, In the Shadow of C. L. Franklin:
      Many historical personalities have lived in the shadow of great men; Harry Truman in the shadow of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Lowery in the shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Hank Aaron in the shadow of Babe Ruth.
    • 2004, Christie Jo Bott, The Bully in the Book and in the Classroom, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 162:
      Paul Fisher lives in the shadow of his older brother, Erik. Legally blind, Paul still manages to play soccer while Erik steals the family's attention as a star football kicker. Slowly the truth about Paul's blindness comes out in []