Dark (original) (raw)
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An unenlightened state
Example:
his lectures dispelled the darkness
Synonyms:
dark; darkness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("dark" is a kind of...):
unenlightenment (a lack of understanding)
Derivation:
dark (lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An unilluminated area
Example:
he moved off into the darkness
Synonyms:
dark; darkness; shadow
Classified under:
Nouns denoting spatial position
Hypernyms ("dark" is a kind of...):
scene (the place where some action occurs)
Derivation:
dark (devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Absence of light or illumination
Synonyms:
dark; darkness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("dark" is a kind of...):
illumination (the degree of visibility of your environment)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dark"):
night (darkness)
black; blackness; lightlessness; pitch blackness; total darkness (total absence of light)
blackout; brownout; dimout (darkness resulting from the extinction of lights (as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft))
semidarkness (partial darkness)
Antonym:
light (having abundant light or illumination)
Derivation:
dark (devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Absence of moral or spiritual values
Example:
the powers of darkness
Synonyms:
dark; darkness; wickedness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("dark" is a kind of...):
condition; status (a state at a particular time)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dark"):
foulness (disgusting wickedness and immorality)
Derivation:
dark (stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable)
Sense 5
Meaning:
The time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
Synonyms:
dark; night; nighttime
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Hypernyms ("dark" is a kind of...):
period; period of time; time period (an amount of time)
Meronyms (parts of "dark"):
lights-out (a prescribed bedtime)
small hours (the hours just after midnight)
midnight (12 o'clock at night; the middle of the night)
late-night hour (the latter part of night)
evening (the early part of night (from dinner until bedtime) spent in a special way)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dark"):
weeknight (any night of the week except Saturday or Sunday)
wedding night (the night after the wedding when bride and groom sleep together)
Holonyms ("dark" is a part of...):
24-hour interval; day; mean solar day; solar day; twenty-four hour period; twenty-four hours (time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis)
II. (adjective)
Comparative and superlative
Comparative: darker
Superlative: darkest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not giving performances; closed
Example:
the theater is dark on Mondays
Classified under:
Similar:
inactive (lacking activity; lying idle or unused)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes)
Example:
dark eyes
Classified under:
Similar:
brunet; brunette (marked by dark or relatively dark pigmentation of hair or skin or eyes)
Derivation:
darkness (having a dark or somber color)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black
Example:
dark as the inside of a black cat
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
tenebrific; tenebrious; tenebrous (dark and gloomy)
semidark (partially devoid of light or brightness)
lightless; unilluminated; unlighted; unlit (without illumination)
gloomful; glooming; gloomy; sulky (depressingly dark)
dusky; twilight; twilit (lighted by or as if by twilight)
dim; subdued (lacking in light; not bright or harsh)
darkling (uncannily or threateningly dark or obscure)
darkling ((poetic) occurring in the dark or night)
darkening (becoming dark or darker as from waning light or clouding over)
darkened (become or made dark by lack of light)
crepuscular (like twilight; dim)
Cimmerian (intensely dark and gloomy as with perpetual darkness)
caliginous (dark and misty and gloomy)
black; pitch-black; pitch-dark (extremely dark)
aphotic (lacking light; especially not reached by sunlight)
Acheronian; Acherontic; Stygian (dark and dismal as of the rivers Acheron and Styx in Hades)
Attribute:
light; lightness (the visual effect of illumination on objects or scenes as created in pictures)
Antonym:
light (characterized by or emitting light)
Derivation:
dark (absence of light or illumination)
darkness; dark (an unilluminated area)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Causing dejection
Example:
grim rainy weather
Synonyms:
blue; dark; dingy; disconsolate; dismal; drab; drear; dreary; gloomy; grim; sorry
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
cheerless; depressing; uncheerful (causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(used of color) having a dark hue
Example:
dark colors like wine red or navy blue
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
darkish (slightly dark)
Also:
black (being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light)
Attribute:
value (relative darkness or lightness of a color)
Antonym:
light ((used of color) having a relatively small amount of coloring agent)
Derivation:
darkness (having a dark or somber color)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Marked by difficulty of style or expression
Example:
those who do not appreciate Kafka's work say his style is obscure
Synonyms:
dark; obscure
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
incomprehensible; uncomprehensible (difficult to understand)
Derivation:
darkness (an unenlightened state)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture
Example:
a dark age in the history of education
Synonyms:
benighted; dark
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unenlightened (not enlightened; ignorant)
Derivation:
dark; darkness (an unenlightened state)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable
Example:
the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him
Synonyms:
black; dark; sinister
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
evil (morally bad or wrong)
Derivation:
dark; darkness (absence of moral or spiritual values)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Showing a brooding ill humor
Example:
a sullen crowd
Synonyms:
dark; dour; glowering; glum; moody; morose; saturnine; sour; sullen
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
ill-natured (having an irritable and unpleasant disposition)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Secret
Example:
keep it dark
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
concealed (hidden on any grounds for any motive)
Derivation:
darkness (an unenlightened state)
Context examples:
It was now so dark that there was no sign of the boat; but Wolf Larsen held back through the frightful turmoil as if guided by unerring instinct.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
The place was pitch dark, but it was evident to me that it was an empty house.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Some time later Garcia looked in at my door—the room was dark at the time—and asked me if I had rung.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Suddenly and at the same moment, the ebullition ceased and the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to a watery green.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
He himself slept peacefully and snored aloud, yet my heart was sore for him, wicked as he was, to think on the dark perils that environed and the shameful gibbet that awaited him.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
He had a wizened face, and sharp little dark eyes, which took in me and the house and my mother’s startled face at the window all in the instant.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Here and there among the moving throng of dark jerkins and of white surcoats were scattered dashes of scarlet and blue, the whimples or shawls of the women.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The inside of the cottage was dark, and I heard no motion; I cannot describe the agony of this suspense.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Its color is usually uneven and can range from pink to dark brown.
(Atypical mole, NCI Dictionary)
You may feel anxious before you take a test or walk down a dark street.
(Anxiety, NIH: National Institute of Mental Health)