darkness
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dark
(därk)adj. dark·er, dark·est
1.
a. Lacking or having very little light: a dark corner.
b. Lacking brightness: a dark day.
c. Reflecting only a small fraction of incident light; tending toward black: dark clothing.
d. Served without milk or cream: dark coffee.
2. Being or having a complexion that is not light in color.
3. Sullen or threatening: a dark scowl.
4.
a. Characterized by gloom or pessimism; dismal or bleak: a dark day for the economy; dark predictions of what lies in store.
b. Being or characterized by morbid or grimly satiric humor.
5.
a. Unknown or concealed; mysterious: a dark secret; the dark workings of the unconscious.
b. Lacking enlightenment, knowledge, or culture: a dark age in the history of education.
6.
a. Evil in nature or effect; sinister: "churned up dark undercurrents of ethnic and religious hostility" (Peter Maas).
b. Morally corrupt; vicious: dark deeds; a dark past.
7. Having richness or depth: a dark, melancholy vocal tone.
8. Not giving performances; closed: The movie theater is dark on Mondays.
9. 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.
5. darks Pieces of laundry having a dark 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, shady, shadowy
These adjectives indicate the absence of light or clarity. Dark, the most widely applicable, can refer to a lack or near lack of illumination (a dark night), deepness of shade or color (dark brown), somberness (a dark mood), or immorality (a dark past). Dim means having or producing little light (dim shadows; a dim light bulb) and further suggests lack of sharpness or clarity: "the terrible dim faces known in dreams" (Carson McCullers)."tales now dim and half forgotten" (Jane Stevenson).
Murky refers to a thick or clouded darkness: "Dolphins use sonar beams to navigate the murky depths of the ocean" (Tim Hilchey).
Like dim, it is also used of what is indistinct or uncertain: "Modern warfare is murky, and with no clear frontlines, the distinction between combat and support can become meaningless" (Kristin Henderson).
Dusky suggests a subdued half-light: "The dusky night rides down the sky, / And ushers in the morn" (Henry Fielding).
It can also refer to deepness or darkness of color: "A dusky blush rose to her cheek" (Edith Wharton).
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 (an ill-lit, shadowy street) but may refer to what is indistinct or little known: "[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.
These adjectives indicate the absence of light or clarity. Dark, the most widely applicable, can refer to a lack or near lack of illumination (a dark night), deepness of shade or color (dark brown), somberness (a dark mood), or immorality (a dark past). Dim means having or producing little light (dim shadows; a dim light bulb) and further suggests lack of sharpness or clarity: "the terrible dim faces known in dreams" (Carson McCullers)."tales now dim and half forgotten" (Jane Stevenson).
Murky refers to a thick or clouded darkness: "Dolphins use sonar beams to navigate the murky depths of the ocean" (Tim Hilchey).
Like dim, it is also used of what is indistinct or uncertain: "Modern warfare is murky, and with no clear frontlines, the distinction between combat and support can become meaningless" (Kristin Henderson).
Dusky suggests a subdued half-light: "The dusky night rides down the sky, / And ushers in the morn" (Henry Fielding).
It can also refer to deepness or darkness of color: "A dusky blush rose to her cheek" (Edith Wharton).
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 (an ill-lit, shadowy street) but may refer to what is indistinct or little known: "[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.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
dark•ness
(ˈdɑrk nɪs)n.
1. the state or quality of being dark.
2. absence or deficiency of light: the darkness of night.
3. wickedness or evil: the forces of darkness.
4. obscurity; concealment.
5. lack of knowledge or enlightenment.
6. lack of sight; blindness.
[before 1050]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
| 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 |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
darkness
nounThe American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
ظُلْمَةظُلْمَه، ظَلام
temnotatma
mørke
pimeys
obscuritéténèbre
tama
dimma, myrkurmyrkur
暗さ
암흑어둠
tamsa
tema
mörker
ความมืด
bóng tối
darkness
[ˈdɑːknɪs] NCollins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
darkness
[ˈdɑːrknɪs] n → obscurité fThe room was in darkness → La chambre était dans l'obscurité.
to be plunged into darkness → être plongé(e) dans l'obscurité
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
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
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
darkness
[ˈdɑːknɪs] n → oscurità, buio; (of hair) → colore m scurothe house was in darkness → la casa era immersa nel buio or nell'oscurità
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
dark
(daːk) adjective1. without light. a dark room; It's getting dark; the dark (= not cheerful) side.
2. blackish or closer to black than white. a dark red colour; a dark (= not very white or fair) complexion; Her hair is dark.
3. evil and usually secret. dark deeds; a dark secret.
noun absence of light. in the dark; afraid of the dark; He never goes out after dark; We are in the dark (= we have no knowledge) about what is happening.
ˈdarken verb to make or become dark or darker.
ˈdarkness noun the state of being dark.
keep it dark to keep something a secret. They're engaged to be married but they want to keep it dark.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
darkness
→ ظُلْمَة temnota mørke Dunkelheit σκότος oscuridad, tinieblas pimeys obscurité tama oscurità 暗さ 어둠 duisternis mørke ciemność escuridão темнота mörker ความมืด karanlık bóng tối 黑暗Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
dark·ness
n. oscuridad.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012