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8 dictionary results for: Dark
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
dark
[dahrk] Pronunciation Key adjective, -er, -est, noun, verb
[dahrk] Pronunciation Key adjective, -er, -est, noun, verb –adjective
–noun
–verb (used with object)
–verb (used without object)
—Idioms
| 1. | having very little or no light: a dark room. |
| 2. | radiating, admitting, or reflecting little light: a dark color. |
| 3. | approaching black in hue: a dark brown. |
| 4. | not pale or fair; swarthy: a dark complexion. |
| 5. | brunette; dark-colored: dark eyebrows. |
| 6. | having brunette hair: She's dark but her children are blond. |
| 7. | (of coffee) containing only a small amount of milk or cream. |
| 8. | gloomy; cheerless; dismal: the dark days of World War II. |
| 9. | sullen; frowning: a dark expression. |
| 10. | evil; iniquitous; wicked: a dark plot. |
| 11. | destitute of knowledge or culture; unenlightened. |
| 12. | hard to understand; obscure. |
| 13. | hidden; secret. |
| 14. | silent; reticent. |
| 15. | (of a theater) offering no performances; closed: The theaters in this town are dark on Sundays. |
| 16. | Phonetics.
|
| 17. | the absence of light; darkness: I can't see well in the dark. |
| 18. | night; nightfall: Please come home before dark. |
| 19. | a dark place. |
| 20. | a dark color. |
| 21. | to make dark; darken. |
| 22. | Obsolete. to grow dark; darken. |
| 23. | in the dark,
|
| 24. | keep dark, to keep as a secret; conceal: They kept their political activities dark. |
[Origin: bef. 1000; (adj.) ME derk, OE deorc; (n. and v.) ME, deriv. of the adj.; cf. MHG terken to darken, hide
]
] —Synonyms 1. Dark, dim, obscure, gloomy, murky refer to absence or insufficiency of light. Dark implies a more or less complete absence of light: a dark night. Dim implies faintness of light or indistinctness of form (resulting from the lack of light or from imperfect vision): a dim outline. Obscure implies dimness that may arise also from factors that interfere with light or vision: obscure because of haze. Gloomy means cloudy, ill-lighted, dusky: a gloomy hall. Murky implies a thick or misty darkness: murky water. 4. dusky, black. 12. recondite, abstruse.
—Antonyms 1. lighted. 2. bright. 8. cheerful. 9. pleasant. 12. clear.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| dark
(därk) Pronunciation Key
adj. dark·er, dark·est
n.
[Middle English derk, from Old English deorc.] dark'ish adj., dark'ly adv., dark'ness n. Synonyms: 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). |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
dark
dark
O.E. deorc, from P.Gmc. *derkaz. "Absence of light" especially at night is the original meaning. Meaning "gloomy, cheerless" was also in O.E. The Anglo-Saxons also had a useful verb, sweorcan, meaning "to grow dark." Application to colors is 16c. Theater slang for "closed" is from 1916; darky, for "black person" is from 1775; dark horse is 1842, from horse racing. In the dark "ignorant" first recorded 1677; Dark Ages is from 1730, in reference to the illiterate and uneducated state of Europe for centuries after the fall of Rome.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| dark | |
adjective | |
| 1. | devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black; "sitting in a dark corner"; "a dark day"; "dark shadows"; "dark as the inside of a black cat" [ant: light] |
| 2. | (used of color) having a dark hue; "dark green"; "dark glasses"; "dark colors like wine red or navy blue" [ant: light] |
| 3. | brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes); "dark eyes" |
| 4. | stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable; "black deeds"; "a black lie"; "his black heart has concocted yet another black deed"; "Darth Vader of the dark side"; "a dark purpose"; "dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility"; "the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"-Thomas Hardy [syn: black] |
| 5. | secret; "keep it dark" |
| 6. | showing a brooding ill humor; "a dark scowl"; "the proverbially dour New England Puritan"; "a glum, hopeless shrug"; "he sat in moody silence"; "a morose and unsociable manner"; "a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius"- Bruce Bliven; "a sour temper"; "a sullen crowd" |
| 7. | lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture; "this benighted country"; "benighted ages of barbarism and superstition"; "the dark ages"; "a dark age in the history of education" [syn: benighted] |
| 8. | marked by difficulty of style or expression; "much that was dark is now quite clear to me"; "those who do not appreciate Kafka's work say his style is obscure" |
| 9. | causing dejection; "a blue day"; "the dark days of the war"; "a week of rainy depressing weather"; "a disconsolate winter landscape"; "the first dismal dispiriting days of November"; "a dark gloomy day"; "grim rainy weather" |
| 10. | having skin rich in melanin pigments; "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People"; "dark-skinned peoples" [syn: colored] |
| 11. | not giving performances; closed; "the theater is dark on Mondays" |
noun | |
| 1. | absence of light or illumination [ant: light] |
| 2. | absence of moral or spiritual values; "the powers of darkness" [syn: iniquity] |
| 3. | an unilluminated area; "he moved off into the darkness" [syn: darkness] |
| 4. | the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside [syn: night] [ant: day] |
| 5. | an unenlightened state; "he was in the dark concerning their intentions"; "his lectures dispelled the darkness" |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This
dark
In addition to the idioms beginning with dark, also see in the dark; keep someone in the dark; leap in the dark; shot in the dark; whistle in the dark.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Dark
Dark\ (d[aum]rk), a. [OE. dark, derk, deork, AS. dearc, deorc; cf. Gael. & Ir. dorch, dorcha, dark, black, dusky.]1. Destitute, or partially destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored; as, a dark room; a dark day; dark cloth; dark paint; a dark complexion. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day! --Milton. In the dark and silent grave. --Sir W. Raleigh. 2. Not clear to the understanding; not easily seen through; obscure; mysterious; hidden. The dark problems of existence. --Shairp. What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain. --Hooker. What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word? --Shak. 3. Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant. The age wherein he lived was dark, but he Could not want light who taught the world to see. --Denhan. The tenth century used to be reckoned by medi[ae]val historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night. --Hallam. 4. Evincing black or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious; as, a dark villain; a dark deed. Left him at large to his own dark designs. --Milton. 5. Foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious. More dark and dark our woes. --Shak. A deep melancholy took possesion of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature. --Macaulay. There is, in every true woman-s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. --W. Irving. 6. Deprived of sight; blind. [Obs.] He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had been for some years. --Evelyn. Note: Dark is sometimes used to qualify another adjective; as, dark blue, dark green, and sometimes it forms the first part of a compound; as, dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-colored, dark-seated, dark-working. A dark horse, in racing or politics, a horse or a candidate whose chances of success are not known, and whose capabilities have not been made the subject of general comment or of wagers. [Colloq.] Dark house, Dark room, a house or room in which madmen were confined. [Obs.] --Shak. Dark lantern. See Lantern. -- The Dark Ages, a period of stagnation and obscurity in literature and art, lasting, according to Hallam, nearly 1000 years, from about 500 to about 1500 A. D.. See Middle Ages, under Middle. The Dark and Bloody Ground, a phrase applied to the State of Kentucky, and said to be the significance of its name, in allusion to the frequent wars that were waged there between Indians. The dark day, a day (May 19, 1780) when a remarkable and unexplained darkness extended over all New England. To keep dark, to reveal nothing. [Low]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Dark
Dark\, n. 1. Absence of light; darkness; obscurity; a place where there is little or no light. Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out. --Shak. 2. The condition of ignorance; gloom; secrecy. Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' dark. --Shak. Till we perceive by our own understandings, we are as muc? in the dark, and as void of knowledge, as before. --Locke. 3. (Fine Arts) A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, or the like; as, the light and darks are well contrasted. The lights may serve for a repose to the darks, and the darks to the lights. --Dryden.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Dark
Dark\, v. t. To darken to obscure. [Obs.] --Milton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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