dark
(därk)
[Middle English derk, from Old English deorc.]
adjective: dark·er, dark·est.
- Lacking or having very little light: a dark corner.
- Lacking brightness: a dark day.
- Reflecting only a small fraction of incident light.
- Of a shade tending toward black in comparison with other shades. Used of a color.
- Having a complexion that is not fair; swarthy.
- Served without milk or cream: dark coffee.
- Characterized by gloom; dismal: took a dark view of the consequences.
- Sullen or threatening: a dark scowl.
- Difficult to understand; obscure: stories that are large in scope and dark in substance.
- Concealed or secret; mysterious: “the dark mysteries of Africa and the fabled wonders of the East” (W. Bruce Lincoln)
- Lacking enlightenment, knowledge, or culture: a dark age in the history of education.
- Exhibiting or stemming from evil characteristics or forces; sinister: “churned up dark undercurrents of ethnic and religious hostility” (Peter Maas)
- Being or characterized by morbid or grimly satiric humor.
- Having richness or depth: a dark, melancholy vocal tone.
- Not giving performances; closed: The movie theater is dark on Mondays.
- Linguistics Pronounced with the back of the tongue raised toward the velum. Used of the sound (l) in words like full.
noun
- Absence of light.
- A place having little or no light.
- Night; nightfall: home before dark.
- A deep hue or color.
idioms
- in the dark
- In secret: high-level decisions made in the dark. In a state of ignorance; uninformed: kept me in the dark about their plans.
derivatives
- darḱish
- adjective
- darḱly
- adverb
- darḱness
- noun
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: “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.
