dark
dark
(därk) adjective
Abbr. dk.
1.
a. Lacking or having very little light: a dark corner. b. Lacking brightness: a dark day.
2. Reflecting only a small fraction of incident light.
3. Of a shade tending toward black in comparison with other shades. Used of a color.
4. Having a complexion that is not fair; swarthy.
5. Characterized by gloom; dismal: took a dark view of the consequences.
6. Sullen or threatening: a dark scowl.
7. Difficult to understand; obscure: stories that are large in scope and dark in substance.
8. Concealed or secret; mysterious: "the dark mysteries of Africa and the fabled wonders of the East" (W. Bruce Lincoln).
9. Lacking enlightenment, knowledge, or culture: a dark age in the history of education.
10. Exhibiting or stemming from evil characteristics or forces; sinister: "churned up dark undercurrents of ethnic and religious hostility" (Peter Maas).
11. Having richness or depth: a dark, melancholy vocal tone.
12. Not giving performances; closed: The movie theater is dark on Mondays.
noun
1.
Absence of light.
2.
A place having little or no light.
3.
Night; nightfall: home before dark.
4.
A deep hue or color.
idiom.
in the dark
1.
In secret: high-level decisions made in the dark.
2.
In a state of ignorance; uninformed: kept me in the dark about their plans.
[Middle English derk, from Old English deorc.]
dark
ʹish adjective
dark
ʹly adverb
dark
ʹness 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: "Under the earth, in the flat, dark air, the wet, gloomy rock gave quarter grudgingly" (Jimmy Breslin). The word can also denote deepness of shade or color (dark brown), absence of cheer (a dark, somber mood), or lack of rectitude: "It[gold]serves what life requires,/But dreadful too, the dark Assassin hires" (Alexander Pope). Dim suggests lack of clarity of outline, as of physical entities or mental processes such as recollection: "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: "an atmosphere murky with sand" (Willa Cather). "The path was altogether indiscernible in the murky darkness which surrounded them" (Sir Walter Scott). Figuratively it can imply dark vagueness: "the narrow crevice of one good deed in a murky life of guilt" (Charles Dickens). Dusky applies principally to 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); 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 (an obscure communiqué requiring clarification), but it can refer to physical darkness (the obscure rooms of a shuttered mansion). Opaque means not admitting penetration by light (opaque rock crystals); figuratively it applies to something that is unintelligible: "Nixon confined himself to opaque philosophical statements that indicated he was not ready for a discussion of basic assumptions" (Henry A. Kissinger). Shady refers literally to what is sheltered from light, especially sunlight (a shady grove of catalpas) or figuratively to what is of questionable honesty (shady business deals). Shadowy also implies obstructed light (a shadowy avenue through thick foliage) but may suggest shifting illumination and indistinctness: "[He]retreated from the limelight to the shadowy fringe of music history" (Charles Sherman). The word can refer to something that seems to lack substance and is mysterious and possibly sinister: a shadowy figure in a black Homburg traversing the fogbound park.