| dark (därk) adj. dark·er, dark·est 1. a. Lacking or having very little light: a dark corner. b. Lacking brightness: a dark day. 2. Reflecting only a small fraction of incident light. 3. Of a shade tending toward black in comparison with other shades. Used of a color. 4. Having a complexion that is not fair; swarthy. 5. Served without milk or cream: dark coffee. 6. Characterized by gloom; dismal: took a dark view of the consequences. 7. Sullen or threatening: a dark scowl. 8. Difficult to understand; obscure: stories that are large in scope and dark in substance. 9. Concealed or secret; mysterious: "the dark mysteries of Africa and the fabled wonders of the East" (W. Bruce Lincoln). 10. Lacking enlightenment, knowledge, or culture: a dark age in the history of education. 11. Exhibiting or stemming from evil characteristics or forces; sinister: "churned up dark undercurrents of ethnic and religious hostility" (Peter Maas). 12. Being or characterized by morbid or grimly satiric humor. 13. Having richness or depth: a dark, melancholy vocal tone. 14. Not giving performances; closed: The movie theater is dark on Mondays. 15. Linguistics Pronounced with the back of the tongue raised toward the velum. Used of the sound (l) in words like full. n. Idiom: 1. Absence of light. 2. A place having little or no light. 3. Night; nightfall: home before dark. 4. A deep hue or color. in the dark 1. In secret: high-level decisions made in the dark. 2. In a state of ignorance; uninformed: kept me in the dark about their plans. [Middle English derk, from Old English deorc.] dark  ish adj.dark ly adv.dark ness n.Synonyms: dark, dim, murky, dusky, obscure, opaque, shady, shadowy These adjectives indicate the absence of light or clarity. Dark, the most widely applicable, can refer to insufficiency of illumination for seeing (a dark evening), deepness of shade or color (dark brown), absence of cheer (a dark, somber mood), or lack of rectitude (a dark past). Dim suggests lack of clarity of outline: "life and the memory of it cramped,/dim, on a piece of Bristol board" (Elizabeth Bishop). It can also apply to a source of light to indicate insufficiency: "storied Windows richly dight,/Casting a dim religious light" (John Milton). Murky implies darkness, often extreme, such as that produced by smoke or fog: "The path was altogether indiscernible in the murky darkness which surrounded them" (Sir Walter Scott). Dusky suggests the dimness that is characteristic of diminishing light, as at twilight: "The dusky night rides down the sky,/And ushers in the morn" (Henry Fielding). Also, it often refers to deepness of shade of a color: "A dusky blush rose to her cheek" (Edith Wharton). Obscure usually means unclear to the mind or senses, but it can refer to physical darkness: the obscure rooms of a shuttered mansion. Opaque means incapable of being penetrated by light: an opaque window shade ; figuratively it applies to something that is unintelligible: opaque philosophical arguments. Shady refers literally to what is sheltered from light, especially sunlight (a shady grove of pines) or figuratively to what is of questionable honesty (shady business deals). Shadowy also implies obstructed light (a shadowy path) but may suggest shifting illumination and indistinctness: "[He] retreated from the limelight to the shadowy fringe of music history" (Charles Sherman). It can also refer to something that seems to lack substance and is mysterious or sinister: a shadowy figure in a black cape. |
Darkness
See also blackening and blackness; night.
an abnormal fear of darkness. Also called scotophobia.
1. the state or condition of being sooty or smoky.
2. soot or smoke. — fuliginous, adj.
2. soot or smoke. — fuliginous, adj.
any thing or creature that shines or glows in the dark, especially a phosphorescent or bioluminescent marine or other organism. — noctilucine, adj.
an abnormal love of the night.
an abnormal fear of darkness or night.
Rare. the act or process of darkening or obscuring.
an abnormal fear of shadows.
achluophobia.
vision in dim light or darkness. See also photopia. — scotopic, adj.
Darkness
- Dark and cool as a cave —David Huddle
- Dark and heavy like a surface stained with ink —John Ashbery
- (It was) dark as a closet —Niven Busch
- Dark as a dungeon —Anon
The simile is the title of a ballad from the American South.
- Dark as anger —Sylvia Plath
- Dark as a pocket —American colloquialism, attributed to Vermont
- (All was) dark as a stack of black cats —J. S. Rioss
- Dark as a thundercloud —Steven Vincent Benet
- Dark as a troll —W. D. Snodgrass
- Dark as a wolfs mouth —Miguel de Cervantes
“Dark as” and “Black as” have been used interchangeably since the simile’s appearance in Don Quixote.
- Dark as a womb —T. Coraghessan Boyle
- Dark as blackberries —Marge Piercy
- (The room was) dark as dreamless sleep —Harry Prince
- (Eyelashes … ) dark as night —Lord Byron
- Dark as sin —Mark Twain
- Dark as the devil’s mouth —Walter Scott
- Dark as the inside of a coffin —Gavin Lyall
- Dark as the inside of a magician’s hat —Robert Campbell
- Dark as the inside of a cow —Mark Twain
- Dark as the river bottom —Paige Mitchell
- Dark like wet coffee grounds —Ella Leffland
- The darkness ahead … looked like Alaska —Richard North
- Darkness as deep and cold as Siberian midnight —Gerald Kersh
- Darkness [in a rainstorm] came closer … like a sodden velvet curtain —Frank Swinnerton
- Darkness falls like a wet sponge —John Ashbery
This is the opening line of an Ashbery poem entitled The Picture of Little J.A. in a Prospect of Flowers.
- Darkness fell like a swift blow —James Crumley
- Darkness fills her like a carbohydrate —Daniela Gioseffi
- The darkness flew in like an unwelcome bird —Norman Garbo
- Darkness had begun to come in like water —Alice McDermott
- Darkness hanging over them like a blotter —T. Coraghessan Boyle
- Darkness like a black lake —Erich Maria Remarque
- Darkness … like a warm liquid poured from the throat of an enormous bird —John Hawkes
- Darkness settling down round them like a soft bird —Rose Tremain
- Darkness should be a private matter, like thought, like emotion —William Dieter
- Darkness so total it seemed … like deep water —William Boyd
- The darkness was like a rising tide that covered the gardens and the houses, erasing everything as a still sea erased footprints on a beach —John P. Marquand
- Darkness was sinking down over the region like a veil —Thomas Mann
- The darkness was thin, like some sleazy dress that has been worn and worn for many winters and always lets the cold through to the bones —Eudora Welty
- Dim as a cave of the sea —Richard Wilbur
- Dim as a cellar in midafternoon —Joyce Cary
- Dim as an ill-lit railroad coach —Natascha Wodin
- (My sun has set, I) dwell in darkness as a dead man out of sight —Christina Rossetti
- Light … drained out of the windows like a sink —William H. Gass
- So dark and murky it [a movie, The Fugitive Kind,] looked like everyone was drowning in chocolate syrup —Tennessee Williams, quoted in interview with Rex Reed
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  darkness - absence of light or illumination illumination - the degree of visibility of your environment night - darkness; "it vanished into the night" lightlessness, pitch blackness, total darkness, black, blackness - total absence of light; "they fumbled around in total darkness"; "in the black of night" brownout, dimout, blackout - darkness resulting from the extinction of lights (as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft) semidarkness - partial darkness |
| 2. | darkness - an unilluminated area; "he moved off into the darkness" scene - the place where some action occurs; "the police returned to the scene of the crime" | |
| 3. | darkness - absence of moral or spiritual values; "the powers of darkness" condition, status - a state at a particular time; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations" foulness - disgusting wickedness and immorality; "he understood the foulness of sin"; "his display of foulness deserved severe punishment"; "mouths which speak such foulness must be cleansed" | |
| 4. | darkness - an unenlightened state; "he was in the dark concerning their intentions"; "his lectures dispelled the darkness" unenlightenment - a lack of understanding | |
| 5. | darkness - having a dark or somber color value - relative darkness or lightness of a color; "I establish the colors and principal values by organizing the painting into three values--dark, medium...and light"-Joe Hing Lowe lightness - having a light color | |
| 6. | darkness - a swarthy complexion |
darkness
noun
1. dark, shadows, shade, gloom, obscurity, blackness, murk, dimness, murkiness, duskiness, shadiness The room was plunged into darkness.
2. night, dark, dusk, nightfall, night-time, hours of darkness They worked all evening until darkness fell.
Related words
fear achluophobia
fear achluophobia
Translations
darkness [ˈdɑːknɪs] N
darkness [ˈdɑːrknɪs] n → obscurité f
The room was in darkness → La chambre était dans l'obscurité.
to be plunged into darkness → être plongé(e) dans l'obscurité
The room was in darkness → La chambre était dans l'obscurité.
to be plunged into darkness → être plongé(e) dans l'obscurité
darkness
n
(lit) → Dunkelheit f; (of night) → Finsternis f, → Dunkelheit f; in total darkness → in totaler or völliger Dunkelheit, in tiefem Dunkel (geh); the house was in darkness → das Haus lag im Dunkeln
(fig: = sinisterness) → Finsterkeit f
(fig: = gloominess, sadness) → Düsterkeit f
darkness [ˈdɑːknɪs] n → oscurità, buio; (of hair) → colore m scuro
the house was in darkness → la casa era immersa nel buio or nell'oscurità
the house was in darkness → la casa era immersa nel buio or nell'oscurità
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