dark
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: därk
ipa: /dɑːk/
enpr: därk
ipa: /dɑɹk/
homophone: doc
homophone: dock (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k
Forms: form: darker
form: darkest
Etymology: From Middle English derk, from Old English deorc, from Proto-West Germanic *derk (“dark”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- (“dim, dull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“dull, dirty”).
Senses: examples: text: The room was too dark for reading.
text: It was a dark and stormy night, the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets […]
ref: 1830, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter I, in Paul Clifford. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 1:
text: They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
text: [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
ref: 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
synonyms: dim
gloomy
antonyms: bright
light
lit
glosses: Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
examples: text: Dark signals should be treated as all-way stop signs.
synonyms: dim
gloomy
doused
out
quenched
antonyms: bright
light
lit
glosses: Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
Extinguished.
raw_tags: of a source of light
examples: text: He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had been for some years.
ref: 1661 April 8 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 29 March 1661]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:
synonyms: dim
gloomy
eyeless
sightless
unseeing
antonyms: bright
light
lit
glosses: Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
Deprived of sight; blind.
synonyms: caliginous
darkling
dim
gloomy
lightless
sombre
antonyms: word: luminous
word: radiant
word: dark
glosses: Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or comprehension
examples: text: My sister’s hair is darker than mine.
text: Her skin grew dark with a suntan.
text: Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
ref: 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 2, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: deep
word: dark
word: deep
word: dull
word: dusky
word: full
word: fuscous
word: languid
word: muted
word: inky
word: intense
word: saturated
word: somber
word: swarthy
antonyms: bright
light
pale
glosses: Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.
raw_tags: of colour
examples: text: What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
text: What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain.
ref: 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
text: The Ways of Heav’n are dark and intricate,
Puzzled in Mazes, and perplext with Errors;
Our Underſtanding traces ’em in vain,
Loſt and bewilder’d in the fruitleſs Search; […]
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:
text: It is the remark of an ingenious writer, should a barbarous Indian, who had never seen a palace or a ship, view their separate and disjointed parts, and observe the pillars, doors, windows, cornices and turrets of the one, or the prow and stern, the ribs and masts, the ropes and shrouds, the sails and tackle of the other, he would be able to form but a very lame and dark idea of either of those excellent and useful inventions.
ref: 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC:
text: the dark problems of existence
ref: 1881, John Shairp, Aspects of Poetry:
synonyms: word: enigmatic
word: esoteric
word: mysterious
word: obscure
word: undefined
word: arcane
word: dark
word: enigmatic
word: esoteric
word: mystic
word: obscure
word: occult
word: recondite
glosses: Ambiguously or unclearly expressed.
examples: text: dark money
text: Meantime we shall express our darker purpose
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: “Clarence, can you lend me three thousand pounds on good security and keep it dark from Connie?”
ref: 1923, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter I, in Leave It to Psmith:
synonyms: word: clandestine
word: hidden
word: secret
word: sinister
word: surreptitious
word: covered
word: concealed
word: dark
word: dern
word: hidden
word: invisible
word: latent
word: private
word: obfuscated
word: obfuscatory
word: obscure
word: obscured
word: occluded
word: occulted
word: recondite
word: unapparent
word: secluded
word: secret
word: secreted
word: silent
word: snug
word: tect
word: underground
word: undisclosed
word: veiled
glosses: Marked by or conducted with secrecy.
examples: text: The first favourite was never heard of, the second favourite was never seen after the distance post, all the ten-to-oners were in the rear, and a dark horse which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph.
ref: 1831, Benjamin Disraeli, The Young Duke — a moral tale though gay
topics: gambling
games
synonyms: word: clandestine
word: hidden
word: secret
word: sinister
word: surreptitious
word: covered
word: concealed
word: dark
word: dern
word: hidden
word: invisible
word: latent
word: private
word: obfuscated
word: obfuscatory
word: obscure
word: obscured
word: occluded
word: occulted
word: recondite
word: unapparent
word: secluded
word: secret
word: secreted
word: silent
word: snug
word: tect
word: underground
word: undisclosed
word: veiled
glosses: Marked by or conducted with secrecy.
Having racing capability not widely known.
raw_tags: of race horses
examples: text: a dark villain
text: a dark deed
text: Left him at large to his own dark designs.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: demonic
word: malign
word: sinister
word: abandoned
word: arrant
word: bad
word: bad apple
word: bad seed
word: baleful
word: baneful
word: base
word: dark
word: deleterious
word: depraved
word: despicable
word: detrimental
word: devilish
word: diabolical
word: evil
word: flagitious
word: harmful
word: ill-intentioned
word: ill-natured
word: immoral
word: incorrigible
word: iniquitous
word: iniquous
word: injurious
word: knavish
word: malefic
word: maleficent
word: malevolent
word: malicious
word: malign
word: malignant
word: nefarious
word: niddering
word: nidering
word: niding
word: nithing
word: no-good
word: peccaminous
word: pernicious
word: reprehensible
word: reprobate
word: satanic
word: scathful
word: sinful
word: sinister
word: sordid
word: sullen
word: ungodly
word: unholy
word: vicious
word: vile
word: villainous
word: wicked
word: wrong
glosses: Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malevolent, malign.
examples: text: The Great Depression was a dark time.
text: The film was a dark psychological thriller.
text: A deep melancholy took possession of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature.
ref: 1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:
text: There is, in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
ref: 1819 June 23 – 1820 September 13, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “(please specify the title)”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC:
synonyms: word: dreary
word: hopeless
word: negative
word: pessimistic
word: cheerless
word: comfortless
word: bleak
word: dark
word: depressing
word: desolate
word: dire
word: disconsolate
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: drear
word: drearisome
word: dreary
word: dreich
word: forlorn
word: gayless
word: gray
word: gloomsome
word: gloomy
word: grim
word: joyless
word: lack-laughter
word: lugubrious
word: melancholy
word: mirthless
word: miserable
word: no joke
word: saturnine
word: solemn
word: somber
word: sombre
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: sunless
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unhappy
word: unmerry
word: wintry
word: woeful
glosses: Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
examples: text: The dark ages began after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
text: The Greek Dark Ages began after the Bronze Age collapse.
text: The age wherein he lived was dark, but he
 Could not want light who taught the world to see.
ref: 1668, John Denham, The Progress of Learning:
text: The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediaeval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night.
ref: 1837–1839, Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:
synonyms: unenlightened
glosses: Lacking progress in science or the arts.
raw_tags: of a time period
examples: text: September 11, 2001, the day when four terrorist attacks destroyed the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, is often referred to as America’s dark day.
ref: 2014 April 1, “Marathon Mementos Remind of Boston's Dark Day”, in NBC News:
synonyms: word: grievous
word: mournful
word: atrabiliary
word: atrabilious
word: deplorable
word: depressing
word: distressing
word: grievous
word: miserable
word: lamentable
word: lachrymable
word: mournful
word: pathetic
word: pathetisad
word: pitiable
word: pitiful
word: pitisome
word: regrettable
word: rueful
word: sad
word: saddening
word: sorrowful
word: tragic
word: unhappy
word: upsetting
word: woebegone
word: woeful
word: atrabiliary
word: atrabilious
word: blitheless
word: dispirited
word: blue
word: bummed out
word: chapfallen
word: cheerless
word: chopfallen
word: crestfallen
word: cut up
word: damp
word: dejected
word: depressed
word: despondent
word: disgruntled
word: disconsolate
word: disheartened
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: down
word: down in the dumps
word: down in the mouth
word: downcast
word: downhearted
word: downsome
word: dull
word: elegiac
word: elegious
word: forlorn
word: gloomy
word: glum
word: grief-stricken
word: grieving
word: heavy-hearted
word: heartsore
word: heartsick
word: inconsolable
word: infelicitous
word: jawfallen
word: joyless
word: lachrymose
word: lamentful
word: low
word: low-spirited
word: lugubrious
word: lumpish
word: melancholic
word: melancholy
word: miserable
word: moody
word: mopey
word: morose
word: mournful
word: passionate
word: plaintive
word: querulous
word: sad
word: saddened
word: saturnine
word: shattered
word: solemn
word: sombre
word: sorrowful
word: sorrow-ridden
word: sorrowsome
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: threnetic
word: threnetical
word: triste
word: tristful
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unconsolable
word: unhappy
word: unlively
word: wistful
word: woe
word: woebegone
word: woeful
word: wretched
glosses: Extremely sad, depressing, or somber, typically due to, or marked by, a tragic or undesirable event.
examples: text: The ending of this book is rather dark.
text: This show is full of dark humor.
glosses: With emphasis placed on the unpleasant and macabre aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form, or a portion of either.
topics: broadcasting
media
glosses: Off the air; not transmitting.
raw_tags: of a television station
Synonyms: word: blear
word: caliginous
word: cimmerian
word: crepuscular
word: dark
word: darksome
word: darkling
word: dim
word: dimpsy
word: dingy
word: dull
word: dusky
word: fuliginous
word: gloomy
word: leaden
word: lightless
word: mirksome
word: murky
word: murksome
word: obscure
word: shady
word: somber
word: sombrous
word: stygian
word: sunless
word: swarthy
word: tenebrous
word: twilightish
word: umbrageous
word: unilluminated
Derived terms: 0-dark-hundred
0-dark-thirty
Alexander's dark band
all cats are grey in the dark
antidark
bedark
dark academia
dark academic
dark-activity
dark-adapted
dark age
dark ages
Dark Ages
Dark Alfs
dark ambient
dark and stormy
dark art
dark as pitch
dark as the inside of a cow
dark blue
dark blue snakeweed
dark-blue snakeweed
dark bread
dark brown
dark cabaret
dark chocolate
dark cloud
dark-colored
dark comedy
Dark Continent
darkcore
dark corn syrup
dark crimson underwing
dark culture
dark current
darkcutter
dark cutter
darkcutting
dark data
dark earth
dark elf
dark empath
dark energy
Dark Enlightenment
dark-eyed
dark-eyed junco
dark factory
darkfall
dark fantasy
dark fiber
dark fibre
darkfic
darkfield
dark field
dark figure
dark fleet
dark flight
dark flow
dark fluid
dark forest hypothesis
darkful
dark fungus
dark glasses
dark gopher frog
dark green fritillary
dark-haired
dark-hearted
dark hearted
darkhorse
dark-horse
dark horse
dark house
dark humor
dark humour
dark hydrogen
darkie
darkey
darky
darkish
dark jungle glory
dark kitchen
dark l
dark-lantern
dark lantern
dark-lanthorn
dark lanthorn
dark life
dark light
darkling
darkly
Dark MAGA
dark magic
darkmans
dark market
dark matter
dark meat
dark mode
dark money
dark moon
dark nebula
dark-necked tailorbird
darknet
dark night
dark night of the soul
darkon
dark pattern
dark pool
dark post
darkpsy
dark reaction
dark red
dark ride
darkroom
dark satanic mill
dark sector
dark shyshark
darkside
dark-side
dark side
dark side of the Force
darkskin
dark-skinned
dark sleeper
dark slide
dark social
dark soliton
darksome
dark space
dark spinach
dark star
dark store
dark territory
dark thirty
dark tourism
dark tourist
darktown
dark trading
dark traffic
dark triad
dark up
dark vowel
darkward
darkwards
darkwave
dark wave
Dark Web
dark web
dark woke
dark world
dark-zilla
Darth
Darth Vader
endark
European dark bee
every dark cloud has a silver lining
Faraday dark space
go dark
grimdark
Joan's as good as my lady in the dark
look on the dark side
look on the dark side of it
non-baryonic dark matter
o-dark-thirty
oh-dark-thirty
oh dark hundred
pitch-dark
pitch dark
the dark side of the moon
semidark
stab in the dark
take a shot in the dark
the darkest hour is just before the dawn
warm dark matter
wine-dark
zero dark thirty
Related terms: word: darken
word: darkling
word: darkness
word: Egyptian darkness
word: dark colour