dusky

American  

[duhs-kee] / ˈdʌs ki /

adjective

duskier, duskiest

1. somewhat dark; having little light; dim; shadowy.

2. Older Use: Chiefly Literary. having dark skin.

3. of a dark color.

4. gloomy; sad.

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dusky British  

/ ˈdʌskɪ /

adjective

1. dark in colour; swarthy or dark-skinned

2. dim

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Other Word Forms

• duskiness
  noun
• duskily
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of dusky

First recorded in 1550–60; dusk ² + -y ¹

Explanation

Something that's dusky is dark or poorly lit, like the dusky walk home from your friend's house at twilight. You can also use this adjective to describe a darker shade of a particular color, like your grandpa's favorite dusky pink roses or the dusky blue of the sky over the ocean just before a storm. Dusky and dusk, or the time just after the sun sets in the evening, come from the Middle English dosc, "obscure, tending to darkness, or shadowy."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dusky duskier duskiest

The dusky shark, which can be found in the Long Island Sound, has been recently documented eating seals near Nantucket.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

What I was really craving, I realized, was the dusky, spiced intensity of another fall icon: apple butter.

From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2025

Preshow, the view from one’s seat is of being in a massive old opera house with dusky green drapes flanked by rows of orchestra seats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2025

Her legs are rosy orange and dusky purple, punctuated by small bumps.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025

The old man’s cough rose querulously out of the dusky dawn and he said to her, “Take to my father first a bowl of hot water for his lungs.”

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

They’re a scene-stealing duo whose comic relief goes a long way toward softening some of the movie’s harsher angles and brightening some of its duskier corners.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 11, 2019

It is bordered on either side by bands of a duskier hue, which probably represent shallow transverse valleys.

From The Moon A Full Description and Map of its Principal Physical Features by Elger, Thomas Gwyn

For the most part she was wrapped in clouds, of a dazzling lustre at the equator, and duskier towards the poles.

From A Trip to Venus by Munro, John

Mrs. Dallow made no response to this, and he pursued his quest, successful only when he reached a duskier corner of the room, to which the hat had been relegated by his cousin's maid.

From The Tragic Muse by James, Henry

The ocean ahead and around was the duskier for the spectral illumination of the near foam and the glimmer of the ice-coated ship.

From The Frozen Pirate by Russell, W. Clark (William Clark)

The people around Michèle hide their duskiest anxieties deep inside, while all her darkness shimmers on the surface.

From Time ● Nov. 29, 2

Her the close bewildering greenery Darkens with its duskiest green, - Him each little leaflet welcomes, Flushing with an orient sheen.

From Poems — Volume 1 by Meredith, George

Flowers: white water-lilies, camellias, or the darkest, duskiest, damask roses, and none of these in such profusion as to appear conspicuous.-402-

From Social Life or, The Manners and Customs of Polite Society by Cooke, Maud C.

But just within the archway, in its duskiest corner, there sat all day a living picture, a dark and handsome woman, apparently p. 289thirty years old, who was unveiled. 

From The Gypsies by Leland, Charles Godfrey

Then with a laugh at her own childishness she "touched wood" to propitiate the jealous fates and ran down stairs to hide herself in the duskiest corner of the veranda.

From Up the Hill and Over by Mackay, Isabel Ecclestone

Related Words

• smoky