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Der Nebel wird so dicht, dass ich das Haus kaum noch sehe.

What is the antonym of "dicht" in the sense/meaning used above?

Also what about these two below?
"thick atmosphere"
"thick substance"

What is the antonym of thick here? If we want it in German of course...

peter.petrov
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3 Answers3

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I would use dünn as an antonym of dicht (or dick) in the sense desired:

  • Der Nebel ist heute dünner als gestern.
  • In der dünnen Atmosphäre kann man kaum noch atmen.
  • Die Mischung ist noch viel zu dünn.

As mentioned elsewhere, lichter Nebel is also appropriate, especially, when dichter Nebel was ment to have the connotation blickdicht (being opaque), like in your example sentence

Der Nebel wird so (blick)dicht, dass ich das Haus kaum noch sehe.

This, however, does not invalidate the existence of the phrase dünner Nebel. It occurs where the property opacity is not as important as the property denseness, for example, in the definition of Nebelschleier in the DWDS.

Björn Friedrich
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  • Judging from these 3 examples... I think this is exactly the word I was looking for. Thanks a lot. – peter.petrov Nov 07 '19 at 00:44
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    Nebel is lichter not dünner. – Olafant Nov 07 '19 at 01:35
  • @Olafant, zur Behauptung, dass Nebel nicht dünn sein könne, siehe die Bedeutung von Nebelschleier im DWDS: https://www.dwds.de/wb/Nebelschleier – Björn Friedrich Nov 07 '19 at 05:05
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    @BjörnFriedrich Auch ein dünner Schleier kann blickdicht sein. Ist er das nicht, handelt es sich um einen lichten Schleier. – Olafant Nov 07 '19 at 14:06
  • @Olafant What about if we use it for atmosphere and substance? Ist "duenn" OK there? – peter.petrov Nov 07 '19 at 14:11
  • @peter.petrov I'd say yes. It's more about the physical property density or concentration there. But for the Nebel in your question it's about das Haus kaum noch sehen. That dicht is kind of a blickdicht, not so much about the ratio water/air. – Olafant Nov 07 '19 at 14:31
  • @Olafant I see, thanks a lot! All clear now. – peter.petrov Nov 07 '19 at 15:08
15

This depends indeed heavily on context. In this case (fog = Nebel) you would usually say leichter Nebel (light fog).
Dünner Nebel (thin fog) would also be possible, but rather unusual.

"Dicht" is also used in the meaning of (air/water-)tight (nothing can leak out), in this case the antonym would simply be undicht.
Finally(?) "dicht" can also mean "close" in the context when speaking about traffic and (not) coming to close to the car in front of you ("Fahr nicht zu dicht auf"). The opposite here would be expressed as "halte Abstand" (keep distance) or "bleib weiter weg" (stay farther away).

Volker Landgraf
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    You forgot the antonym "nüchtern" <-> "dicht" (= "sternhagelvoll"). ;-) – Alexander Nov 07 '19 at 10:20
  • @Alexander that's why the question mark is there after "finally" ;-) - However, this meaning is a very colloquial one... – Volker Landgraf Nov 07 '19 at 12:23
  • "dicht" is also colloquially used to mean "buried in work, not available for appointments". Also can mean "shut/shuttered" (both out of hours, or permanently) referring to a business or public building. There is a risk for misunderstanding "Vergiss es, der Chef ist heute völlig dicht." (intended meaning: Don't bother, the boss is too busy today. Easily misunderstood as "Don't bother, the boss is completely drunk today." – rackandboneman Nov 07 '19 at 16:31
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    @rackandboneman Never heard that use, so I would definitely be amongst the persons misunderstanding it - or at least be very confused. – Volker Landgraf Nov 07 '19 at 17:07
  • In many cases, "leck" can replace "undicht" (as in der Tank ist leck/leckt = the tank is leaky/leaking). – cbeleites unhappy with SX Nov 09 '19 at 20:41
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Slightly old-fashioned would be:

lichter Nebel

I don't know which meaning of licht this usage is based on: bright or sparse.

ein lichter Morgen (bright)

ein lichter Wald, lichtes Haar (sparse)

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David Vogt
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    I don't think it's old-fashioned at all. Lichter Nebel is perfectly fine and the right expression instead of dünner Nebel (new-fashioned?). – Olafant Nov 07 '19 at 01:33
  • Cp to leak, "die Heizung leckt", which directly contrasts "dicht". It could also compare to "Lichtung", which, to me, is as dark and obscure as the woods. Cue several puns about to miss the forest for the trees. – vectory Nov 07 '19 at 12:09
  • @vectory Uhm what? – Olafant Nov 07 '19 at 14:40
  • @Olafant it does not make immediate sense to compare leck and dicht, I know, but the radiator is either dicht or it does leck- (Ein schlechter Witz: Warum sitzt die Blondine auf der Heizung? Weil die Heizung leckt!). cp further [Ab-]Dichtung, Lichtung and Dickicht! – vectory Nov 08 '19 at 09:05
  • this implies a sense development involving shiny, letting shine through, not so dense, not heavy, thin etc. in any order. This leaves me highly confused. Also cp Lat levo, En leave, let, G lassen, durch lassen, erleichtern, and eine Sperre aufheben (viz levo?) – vectory Nov 08 '19 at 09:13
  • Also contrast Laubwald (?) vs Schwarzwald "... an older general term for coniferous forests.", that is, Nadelwälder, hard to pass, Laubwälder, easy to pass, for a naive antonymy. cp perhaps Schwarte (crust, bacon), and of course schwer vs leicht. Also see leicht "easy". I'm not sure whether these idioms are Germanic, or older. – vectory Nov 08 '19 at 10:23
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    @vectory Manchmal lässt sich erahnen, welch wunderbare und höchst interessante Antworten du schreiben könntest, würdest du deine Gedanken doch bloß mal in verständlichen Fließtext gießen statt sie in telegrammstilartige Kommentare zu stückeln. – Olafant Nov 08 '19 at 12:20