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.
Wave theory predicted that a bright point should appear in the center of the disc's shadow, where complete darkness would otherwise be expected.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026
Charcoals, lithographs and pastels reveal his command of darkness and color, a mastery that gave life to his Symbolist visions inspired by religion, literature and myth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
In total darkness and my senses hyper alert, any conversation we had bounced off the walls of what felt like a never-ending tunnel.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
The darkness was total; there was no air.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026
Clare was now without hot tea, his cottage bathed in darkness.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
