darkness
Americannoun
-
the state or quality of being dark.
The room was in total darkness.
-
absence or deficiency of light.
the darkness of night.
-
wickedness or evil.
Satan, the prince of darkness.
-
obscurity; concealment.
The darkness of the metaphor destroyed its effectiveness.
-
lack of knowledge or enlightenment.
heathen darkness.
-
lack of sight; blindness.
Other Word Forms
- predarkness noun
Etymology
Origin of darkness
First recorded before 1050; Middle English derknesse, Old English deorcnysse; equivalent to dark + -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.
When the search concluded, the group walked once more in the darkness.
From Los Angeles Times
Loyola 5, Huntington Beach 5: The Cubs scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth on RBI singles by Bobby Rapp and Wyatt Clougherty to settle for a tie because of darkness.
From Los Angeles Times
It is plunged in darkness with no sun for four months in winter, then bathed in round-the-clock daylight in summer.
From Barron's
But this one-line synopsis also succinctly captures the film’s complexities, humor, darkness and honesty.
From Salon
In the darkness, the other kids were mostly miscellaneous blobs, but Jonah could pick out Katherine’s bright orange jacket in the middle of a huge cluster of kids.
From Literature
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.
