darkness
Americannoun
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darkness
plural
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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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Dillahunt’s Macon embodies the sinister darkness lurking beneath the surface of any American small town, especially for outsiders.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
The plays of Shakespeare will always be relevant because he wrote of human beings in both their elemental goodness and darkness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Shouts of joy and applause broke out as hundreds of people gathered in a heat-scorched field gazed at the sky at the moment darkness fell.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
"Hello darkness my old friend" says Metro, showing the Moon slowly blotting out the Sun as seen in the skies above south London, where a 97% eclipse was witnessed.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
For the first time in his life, they weren’t just a distant darkness on the eastern horizon.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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.
