darkness
Americannoun
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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.
The frontman of rock band The Darkness visited a Herefordshire school to open a recording studio named after him.
From BBC • Feb. 1, 2026
Landmarks, buildings and monuments are set to be lit up in purple as part of the national Light the Darkness moment on Tuesday evening.
From BBC • Jan. 27, 2026
Darkness will inspire travelers to see Spain in a new light this summer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 20, 2025
Darkness clings to the sky as thousands of bikers zoom across a dusty alkaline flat in search of a sunrise set, hoping to outpace the gash of periwinkle light bleeding over the horizon.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2025
Darkness shrank to the height of Nathan and looked at him.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
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.
