in the dark

Idioms  

1. In secret, in concealment, as in This agreement was concluded in the dark . [Early 1600s]

2. In a state of ignorance, uninformed, as in I was in the dark about their plans . This metaphor often appears in the locution keep someone in the dark , meaning “deliberately keep someone uninformed,” as in They kept me in the dark about their plans . [Late 1600s] For an antonym, see in the know .

---

Example Sentences

In the dark, emergency teams searched the site in Basta.

From BBC • Nov. 23, 2024

In the dark recesses, I could see items precariously stacked 14 feet high.

From Slate • Aug. 5, 2024

In the dark of night, a construction crew working this week along a Santa Cruz highway discovered a large rabbit close to the roadway.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2024

"In the dark, it's much harder to assess which way the tree is going to fall, so we were quite lucky to have made it through these heart-pounding wake-up calls unscathed," Erb said.

From Salon • May 14, 2024

Turner looked at them through his window; he could almost see them puffing: In the dark, the cranked horn of a doryman sounded, and then another, higher pitched.

From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt