dark Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun absence of light or illumination
    darkness.
  2. noun absence of moral or spiritual values
    iniquity; darkness; wickedness.
    • the powers of darkness
  3. noun an unilluminated area
    shadow; darkness.
    • he moved off into the darkness
  4. noun the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
    nighttime; night.
  5. noun an unenlightened state
    darkness.
    • he was in the dark concerning their intentions
    • his lectures dispelled the darkness
  6. adjective 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
  7. adjective (used of color) having a dark hue
    • dark green
    • dark glasses
    • dark colors like wine red or navy blue
  8. adjective satellite brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes)
    • dark eyes
  9. adjective satellite stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable
    sinister; black.
    • 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
  10. adjective satellite secret
    • keep it dark
  11. adjective satellite showing a brooding ill humor
    saturnine; dour; morose; sour; glum; glowering; sullen; moody.
    • 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
  12. adjective satellite lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture
    benighted.
    • this benighted country
    • benighted ages of barbarism and superstition
    • the dark ages
    • a dark age in the history of education
  13. adjective satellite marked by difficulty of style or expression
    obscure.
    • much that was dark is now quite clear to me
    • those who do not appreciate Kafka's work say his style is obscure
  14. adjective satellite causing dejection
    blue; dingy; drear; disconsolate; dreary; gloomy; dismal; drab; sorry; grim.
    • 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
  15. adjective satellite having skin rich in melanin pigments
    dark-skinned; non-white; colored; coloured.
    • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
    • dark-skinned peoples
  16. adjective satellite not giving performances; closed
    • the theater is dark on Mondays

WordNet

Dark adjective
Etymology
OE. dark, derk, deork, AS. dearc, deorc; cf. Gael. & Ir. dorch, dorcha, dark, black, dusky.
Definitions
  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, Irrecoverable 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 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 wherin he lived was dark, but he Cobld not want light who taught the world oto see. Denhan.
    The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediæval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night. Hallam.
  4. Evincing blaxk 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.
    ✍ 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.
Dark noun
Definitions
  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 transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To darken to obscure. Obs. Milton.

Webster 1913