Definitions for: Dark


[n] an unenlightened state; "he was in the dark concerning their intentions"; "his lectures dispelled the darkness"
[n] an unilluminated area; "he moved off into the darkness"
[n] absence of light or illumination
[n] absence of moral or spiritual values; "the powers of darkness"
[n] the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
[adj] not giving performances; closed; "the theater is dark on Mondays"
[adj] having skin rich in melanin pigments; "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People"; "the dark races"; "dark-skinned peoples"
[adj] (used of hair or skin or eyes) "dark eyes"
[adj] devoid or partially devoid of light or brightness; shadowed or black or somber-colored; "sitting in a dark corner"; "a dark day"; "dark shadows"; "the theater is dark on Mondays"; "dark as the inside of a black cat"
[adj] 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"
[adj] (used of color) having a dark hue; "dark green"; "dark glasses"; "dark colors like wine red or navy blue"
[adj] 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"
[adj] 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"
[adj] 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
[adj] 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"
[adj] secret; "keep it dark"; "the dark mysteries of Africa and the fabled wonders of the East"



Webster (1913) Definition: 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, 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, v. t.
To darken to obscure. [Obs.] --Milton.

Synonyms: Acheronian, Acherontic, aphotic, benighted, black, blue, brunet, brunette, caliginous, cheerless, Cimmerian, colored, coloured, concealed, crepuscular, darkened, darkening, darkish, darkling, darkness, darkness, darkness, dark-skinned, depressing, dim, disconsolate, dismal, dispiriting, dour, dusky, evil, gloomful, glooming, gloomy, glowering, glum, grim, ill-natured, inactive, incomprehensible, iniquity, lightless, lightproof, light-tight, moody, morose, night, nighttime, obscure, pitch-black, pitch-dark, saturnine, shadow, sinister, sour, Stygian, subdued, sullen, tenebrific, tenebrious, tenebrous, twilight(a), twilit, uncheerful, uncomprehensible, unenlightened, unilluminated, unlighted, unlit, wicked, wickedness

Antonyms: daylight, daytime, light, light, light-colored, lighting

See Also: achromatic, black, blackness, blackout, brownout, condition, day, dimout, evening, illumination, late-night hour, lightlessness, lights-out, mean solar day, midnight, night, period, period of time, pitch blackness, scene, semidarkness, small hours, solar day, status, time period, total darkness, twenty-four hours, unenlightenment, wedding night, weeknight

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