Or disabled, grayed, unavailable. The state and visual appearance of controls or menu items whose functionality is not presently available to a user.
1. An object that is not available for selection. 2. (programming) A visual effect on an object. A control, such as a button, is dimmed if its visible manifestation represents the state of just one of several objects that are in inconsistent states. When such a control is manipulated (for example, by clicking SELECT over the button), it is no longer dimmed because the manipulation sets the state for all the objects.
A menu option, which is usually gray, that is disabled or unavailable.
Gray, faded, or otherwise made to recede into the background. You cannot choose a command or operate a button when it is dimmed.
Reduced contrast to show unavailable emphasis.
Gray or filled in with a pattern of dots, indicating that an icon is already open or a menu, menu item, or other option is not available.
A term usually used in GUIs to indicate that a particular command is not available or is disabled. Also sometimes referred to as grayed out.
interface: When a button, menu item, or icon is unavailable, it appears gray rather than black. On the desktop, a dimmed icon represents a disk, document, folder or application on a disk that has been ejected but not dismounted (by moving its icon into the trash can). You can select and open dimmed disk and folder icons, but you can't open the documents and applications in them.