dark
Americanadjective
-
darker,
comparative
-
darkest
superlative
-
having very little or no light.
The movie projector works much better in a dark room.
-
radiating, admitting, or reflecting little light.
A worm bin can be started in a 10-gallon plastic container in a dark color.
- Antonyms:
- bright
-
approaching black in hue.
They stained the wood floor a dark brown.
-
not pale or fair in skin tone.
My mother had a dark complexion, but my father's was lighter.
-
brunette; brown or black.
The man is described as 55 to 65 years old, with short gray hair and dark eyebrows.
-
having brown or black hair.
She's dark but her children are blond.
-
(of food or drink, especially coffee beans) roasted, cooked, or toasted until near black in color: often used to describe the process itself.
That brand of coffee is good, but I can't always find the dark roast.
-
(of coffee) containing only a small amount of milk or cream.
We'll have two large coffees—one black, one dark and sweet.
-
evil; iniquitous; wicked.
At the film's climax, the protagonist reveals a dark plot to assassinate the king.
-
gloomy; cheerless; dismal.
He served as a courier for the Polish resistance during the dark days of World War II.
- Antonyms:
- cheerful
-
dealing with subject matter that is shocking, disturbing, or grim.
This manga is a bit darker than the typical princess novel, as it has some scenes with gore.
-
sullen; frowning.
With a dark expression, he demanded to know what she was doing.
- Antonyms:
- pleasant
-
hidden; secret.
-
hard to understand; obscure.
Among the fragments left us by this poet, many lines are dark in meaning.
- Antonyms:
- clear
-
silent; reticent.
-
destitute of knowledge or culture; unenlightened.
-
(of a theater) offering no performances; closed.
The theaters in this town are dark on Sundays.
-
Phonetics.
-
(of an l- sound) having back-vowel resonance; situated after a vowel in the same syllable.
-
(of a speech sound) of dull quality; acoustically damped.
-
noun
-
the absence of light; darkness.
I can't see well in the dark.
-
night; nightfall.
Please come home before dark.
-
a color close to black, or something having such a color.
Black and white photography has lots of darks.
For best results, wash darks separately from whites.
-
Archaic. a place that lacks light.
Imagine diving into the dark of the sea and seeing a face emerge from the watery shadows.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
idioms
-
in the dark,
-
in ignorance; uninformed.
He was in the dark about their plans for the evening.
-
in secrecy; concealed; obscure.
-
-
go dark,
-
to stop communicating, transmitting, or broadcasting.
Thousands of websites went dark for a day to demonstrate that the bill would ruin the internet as we know it.
I've tried to reach out, but he's gone dark and there's no contact.
-
to shut down or stop operating; close, temporarily or permanently.
The area is so depressed that more than half the restaurants in this county have gone dark in the past five years.
-
-
keep dark, to keep as a secret; conceal.
They kept their political activities dark.
adjective
-
having little or no light
a dark street
-
(of a colour) reflecting or transmitting little light Compare light 1 medium
dark brown
-
-
(of complexion, hair colour, etc) not fair or blond; swarthy; brunette
-
( in combination )
dark-eyed
-
-
gloomy or dismal
-
sinister; evil
a dark purpose
-
sullen or angry
a dark scowl
-
ignorant or unenlightened
a dark period in our history
-
secret or mysterious
keep it dark
-
phonetics denoting an (l) pronounced with a velar articulation giving back vowel resonance. In English, l is usually dark when final or preconsonantal Compare light 1
-
informal stock exchange (of a company) to remove itself from the register of major exchanges while continuing to trade
noun
-
absence of light; darkness
-
night or nightfall
-
a dark place, patch, or shadow
-
a state of ignorance (esp in the phrase in the dark )
verb
Usage
What is a basic definition of dark? Dark describes something that lacks or has very little light. Dark is the absence of light. Dark also describes something that is depressing or evil. The word dark has several other senses as an adjective, noun, and a verb. If something is dark, it means that it has no light or has very small amounts of light. Real-life examples: If you turn the lights off in a room, the room becomes dark. When the sun sets at night, it becomes very dark outside. A dark alley has no streetlights, making it very hard to see anything. Used in a sentence: He used a flashlight to help him see in the dark cellar. In this sense, dark also refers to an absence of light. The dark is the deep blackness such as you see when you close your eyes. Real-life examples: Many children are afraid of the dark. It is usually a good idea not to wander outside in the dark because of nocturnal animals. Used in a sentence: The wolf ran into the cave and disappeared into the dark. Dark also describes something that is gloomy, depressing, or grim. You probably know some movies or books you would call dark because they don’t have a happy ending or are very depressing. Real-life examples: The stories of Edgar Allen Poe are usually dark, containing death and sad endings. Horror movies tend to be dark, as they are often full of depressing events and unhappy endings. Dark comedy uses depressing or sad topics to make tragicomedy. Used in a sentence: We went through some dark days after our friend died. Dark can also describe something that is evil or wicked. Real-life examples: Bad guys perform dark deeds. The heroes of stories will try to stop the dark plots of the villains. Used in a sentence: The heroine had an exciting sword fight with the dark lord in his evil lair.
Synonym Usage
Dark, dim, obscure, gloomy, murky refer to absence or insufficiency of light. Dark implies a more or less complete absence of light: a dark night. Dim implies faintness of light or indistinctness of form (resulting from the lack of light or from imperfect vision): a dim outline. Obscure implies dimness that may arise also from factors that interfere with light or vision: obscure because of haze. Gloomy means cloudy, ill-lighted, dusky: a gloomy hall. Murky implies a thick or misty darkness: murky water.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of dark
First recorded before 1000; (for the adjective) Middle English derk, Old English deorc; (for the noun and verb) Middle English, derivative of the adjective; compare Middle High German terken “to darken, hide”
Explanation
When something's dark, there is no light. Far from the city lights, it gets so dark at night that you can see many stars in the sky. Dark comes from the Proto-Germanic word derkaz, which means "to hide or conceal." This meaning is preserved in the phrase kept in the dark, meaning purposely keeping information from someone. As an adjective, in addition to being the opposite of light, dark describes things that are gloomy, difficult to interpret or heavy, like a dark movie whose main character feels alienated from society.
Vocabulary lists containing dark
Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 2
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Selection Vocabulary 2, Unit 3
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
See Examples For:
Then followed a particularly dark and turbulent period in the club's history featuring points deductions and a stint in administration.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
The broad strokes of dark composite cladding along the rocker panels, lower front and rear fascia, and around the wheel wells, signal its soft-road sensibilities—as does the 8.5 inches of ground clearance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Since that unique formative experience, Bonilla has traveled a winding path in and out of the industry, which ultimately led her to direct her first feature: the dark comedy “The Musical,” in theaters Friday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Anything that had changed showed up as a bright or dark patch.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
We have to go with Clare to a dark place—a very dark place indeed—a place where few foxes and only a handful of elk and absolutely no badgers have ever gone before.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
“It was the start of the blowup, it was definitely a darker season but a necessary one to understand where everyone is at.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
As we looked out over the bay, its turquoise edges giving out to darker blue, Olsi pointed at a hump of land rising out of the water.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
But Carney directly invoked the darker, flintier aspects of North American history when he was asked on Aug. 22 whether his country was now at war.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
The much more obvious stage starts at 03:33, as Earth's darker central shadow begins moving across the lunar surface, with maximum eclipse occurring at 05:12, external.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
His skin was darker than in the picture in the mobile home’s living room.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
The partial eclipse will begin at 03:33 BST in London, when the Moon enters Earth's darkest shadow.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Seeking to reassure his employees in September 2021, Xu told staff in a letter he believed the group would "step out of the darkest moment soon".
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
A few years later, she was a regular on a soap opera, channeling her darkest fears into tears that would have adults heaping praise upon her.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
The local authority has previously said the Highlands, which has large, sparsely populated areas, offered astronomy fans some of the darkest skies in Europe.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
He discovered a never-before-seen jellyfish in the darkest part of the ocean.
From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin
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.
