Dark Ages

American  

noun

1. the period in European history from about a.d. 476 to about 1000.

2. the whole of the Middle Ages, from about a.d. 476 to the Renaissance.

3. (often lowercase) a period or stage marked by repressiveness, a lack of enlightenment or advanced knowledge, etc.

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Dark Ages British  

plural noun

1. the period from about the late 5th century _ad to about 1000 _ad , once considered an unenlightened period

2. (occasionally) the whole medieval period

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Dark Ages Cultural  

1. A term sometimes applied to the early Middle Ages, the first few centuries after the Fall of Rome. The term suggests prevailing ignorance and barbarism, but there were forces for culture and enlightenment throughout the period.

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Etymology

Origin of Dark Ages

First recorded in 1720–30

Compare meaning

How does dark-ages compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Dark Ages vs. Middle Ages

Example Sentences

Roughly 400,000 years later, after the cosmos cooled enough for atoms to form, it entered a long and quiet phase known as the "Dark Ages."

From Science Daily • Jan. 20, 2026

Monks from Ireland helped spread and then restore Christianity during the so-called Dark Ages.

From BBC • Aug. 9, 2025

That would put the Dark Ages monarchs of Europe to shame.

From Salon • Dec. 7, 2024

But it turns out the Dark Ages was anything but.

From National Geographic • May 25, 2023

I read about the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, and the Dark Ages, when the old civilizations fell apart and the only people who could read and write were the monks.

From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien