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dark - 7 dictionary results

dark

  [dahrk] adjective, -er, -est, noun, verb
Use dark in a Sentence
–adjective
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.
a. (of an l-sound) having back-vowel resonance; situated after a vowel in the same syllable. Compare clear (def. 24a).
b. (of a speech sound) of dull quality; acoustically damped.
–noun
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.
–verb (used with object)
21. to make dark; darken.
–verb (used without object)
22. Obsolete. to grow dark; darken.
—Idioms
23. in the dark,
a. in ignorance; uninformed: He was in the dark about their plans for the evening.
b. in secrecy; concealed; obscure.
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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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dark   (därk)   
adj.   dark·er, dark·est
    1. Lacking or having very little light: a dark corner.
    2. 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.  
  1. Absence of light.
  2. A place having little or no light.
  3. Night; nightfall: home before dark.
  4. A deep hue or color.

[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).
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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]

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.

Dark

Dark\, v. t. To darken to obscure. [Obs.] --Milton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : dark
Spanish: oscuro,
German: dunkel,
Japanese: 暗い
More Translations »

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
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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. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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