Pronunciations (2)
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/dɑːk/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/dɑɹk/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
Adjective
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
- Examples
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The room was too dark for reading.
More examples (3)
It was a dark and stormy night, the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets […]
They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. Extinguished.
Usage- of a source of light
- Examples
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Dark signals should be treated as all-way stop signs.
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. Deprived of sight; blind.
- Examples
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He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had been for some years.
Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or comprehension
Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.
Usage- of colour
- Synonyms
- Examples
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My sister’s hair is darker than mine.
Her skin grew dark with a suntan.
More examples (2)
Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
Ambiguously or unclearly expressed.
- Examples
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What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?
What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain.
More examples (3)
The Ways of Heav’n are dark and intricate, Puzzled in Mazes, and perplext with Errors; Our Underſtanding traces ’em in vain, Loſt and bewilder’d in the fruitleſs Search; […]
It is the remark of an ingenious writer, should a barbarous Indian, who had never seen a palace or a ship, view their separate and disjointed parts, and observe the pillars, doors, windows, cornices and turrets of the one, or the prow and stern, the ribs and masts, the ropes and shrouds, the sails and tackle of the other, he would be able to form but a very lame and dark idea of either of those excellent and useful inventions.
the dark problems of existence
Marked by or conducted with secrecy.
- Examples
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The dark side of the moon.
dark money
More examples (2)
Meantime we shall express our darker purpose
“Clarence, can you lend me three thousand pounds on good security and keep it dark from Connie?”
Marked by or conducted with secrecy. Having racing capability not widely known.
Usage- of race horses
- Examples
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More examples (1)
The first favourite was never heard of, the second favourite was never seen after the distance post, all the ten-to-oners were in the rear, and a dark horse, which had never been thought of, and which the careless [Duke of] St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph.
Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malevolent, malign.
- Examples
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a dark villain
a dark deed
More examples (1)
Left him at large to his own dark designs.
Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
- Examples
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The Great Depression was a dark time.
The film was a dark psychological thriller.
More examples (2)
A deep melancholy took possession of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature.
There is, in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
Lacking progress in science or the arts.
Usage- of a time period
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The dark ages began after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
The Greek Dark Ages began after the Bronze Age collapse.
More examples (2)
The age wherein he lived was dark, but he Could not want light who taught the world to see.
The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediaeval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night.
Extremely sad, depressing, or somber, typically due to, or marked by, a tragic or undesirable event.
- Examples
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September 11, 2001, the day when four terrorist attacks destroyed the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, is often referred to as America’s dark day.
With emphasis placed on the unpleasant and macabre aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form, or a portion of either.
- Examples
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The ending of this book is rather dark.
This show is full of dark humor.
Off the air; not transmitting.
Usage- of a television station
Noun
A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.
Usage- Uncountable
- usually
- Examples
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Dark surrounds us completely.
Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out.
More examples (2)
The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue.[…].
[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
Ignorance.
Usage- Uncountable
- usually
- Examples
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We kept him in the dark.
The lawyer was left in the dark as to why the jury was dismissed.
More examples (2)
Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' dark.
Till we perceive it by our own understandings, we are as much in the dark, and as void of knowledge, as before.
Nightfall.
Usage- Uncountable
- usually
- Examples
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It was after dark before we got to playing baseball.
A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.
Usage- Uncountable
- usually
- Examples
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The lights may serve for a repose to the darks, and the darks to the lights.
Verb
To grow or become dark, darken.
Usage- Intransitive
To remain in the dark, lurk, lie hidden or concealed.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
To dark is still used in Swaledale (Yorkshire) in the sense of to lie hid, as, 'Te rattens [rats] mun ha bin darkin whel nu [till now]; we hannot heerd tem tis last fortnith'.
To make dark, darken; to obscure.
Usage- Transitive
Adjective
devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black
- Antonyms
- Examples
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sitting in a dark corner
a dark day
More examples (2)
dark shadows
dark as the inside of a black cat
(used of color) having a dark hue
- Antonyms
- Examples
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dark green
dark glasses
More examples (1)
dark colors like wine red or navy blue
brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes)
- Examples
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dark eyes
stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable
- Examples
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black deeds
a black lie
More examples (4)
his black heart has concocted yet another black deed
Darth Vader of the dark side
a dark purpose
dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility
secret
- Examples
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keep it dark
showing a brooding ill humor
- Examples
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a dark scowl
the proverbially dour New England Puritan
More examples (5)
a glum, hopeless shrug
he sat in moody silence
a morose and unsociable manner
a sour temper
a sullen crowd
lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture
- Synonyms
- Examples
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this benighted country
benighted ages of barbarism and superstition
More examples (2)
the dark ages
a dark age in the history of education
marked by difficulty of style or expression
- Synonyms
- Examples
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much that was dark is now quite clear to me
those who do not appreciate Kafka's work say his style is obscure
causing dejection
- Examples
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a blue day
the dark days of the war
More examples (5)
a week of rainy depressing weather
a disconsolate winter landscape
the first dismal dispiriting days of November
a dark gloomy day
grim rainy weather
not giving performances; closed
- Examples
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the theater is dark on Mondays
Noun
absence of light or illumination
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
absence of moral or spiritual values
- Synonyms
- Examples
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the powers of darkness
an unilluminated area
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he moved off into the darkness
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
- Broader terms
an unenlightened state
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he was in the dark concerning their intentions
his lectures dispelled the darkness