darkness
Americannoun
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darkness
plural
-
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.
“They’re not frolicking anymore. She’s being faced with something that she couldn’t previously comprehend because she doesn’t have that darkness within her.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
In Washington state alone, permanent daylight saving time would produce nearly 35 million additional school commutes in darkness.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2026
Some posts on social media called on people to dress up and gather for a "night of darkness".
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
Last year Machado left Venezuela on a speedboat and in darkness to travel to Norway and accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
He kept a diary of séance specifics, noting weather conditions and the level of darkness in the room.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
