Etymology
Origin of blackness
A Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at black, -ness
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.
"What struck me wasn't necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe," said Koch.
From Barron's ● Apr. 11, 2026
“This was a period in English culture before blackness acquired its fatal association with slavery,” he writes, identifying a “certain strain of indifference to color” in the thinking of the time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
“You turn off the lights and they just tumble into the blackness of space,” he told me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2025
This white haziness in their lungs, where there should only be the empty blackness of air, is commonly the mark of a tuberculosis infection.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2024
Below the newly-discovered steps, a pair of lanterns cast pools of golden light into the inky blackness.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
