darkness
Americannoun
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the state or quality of being dark.
The room was in total darkness.
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absence or deficiency of light.
the darkness of night.
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wickedness or evil.
Satan, the prince of darkness.
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obscurity; concealment.
The darkness of the metaphor destroyed its effectiveness.
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lack of knowledge or enlightenment.
heathen darkness.
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lack of sight; blindness.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of darkness
First recorded before 1050; Middle English derknesse, Old English deorcnysse; equivalent to dark + -ness
Explanation
The complete (or partial) absence of light is darkness. If you've ever lost power in your house during a nighttime storm, you know what it's like to be suddenly engulfed in darkness. There are degrees of darkness, from the complete darkness of the woods on a moonless night to the darkness of a room lit by candlelight. Darkness is open to interpretation, since it's defined as a lack of light. There's also a figurative darkness, which can represent wickedness, sadness, ignorance, or simply mystery: "The details of their adventures would remain in darkness, unless one of them wrote a book someday."
Vocabulary lists containing darkness
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
DARKNESS: People protested continuing power outages in Buenos Aires on Sunday.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2013
DARKNESS: People protested continuing power outages in Buenos Aires on Sunday.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2013
NOAA/European Pressphoto Agency of 25 DARKNESS: Schoolboys in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Thursday lighted candles during a protest against fuel cuts that have led to power shortages.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 9, 2013
Tsering Topgyal/Associated Press of 15 DARKNESS: Schoolboys in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Thursday lighted candles during a protest against fuel cuts that have led to power shortages.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2013
DARKNESS, unconquered Darkness, spread thy tent, Silence, build up thy co-eternal wall.
From The Masque of the Elements by Scheffauer, Herman George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
