dusky
Americanadjective
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somewhat dark; having little light; dim; shadowy.
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Older Use: Chiefly Literary. having dark skin.
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of a dark color.
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gloomy; sad.
adjective
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dark in colour; swarthy or dark-skinned
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dim
Other Word Forms
- duskily adverb
- duskiness noun
Etymology
Origin of dusky
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."
Vocabulary lists containing dusky
Lights Out: Synonyms for "Dark"
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Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 4
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I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018
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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 food in Malaysia was really nice and I got to see these monkeys; they're called dusky leaf monkeys. They're so cheeky – they once stole my banana," he said.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
Even so, the kaleidoscope of tales and vignettes, and the blurring of the banal with the macabre, produces a dusky, dreamlike atmosphere that envelopes one’s thoughts like a fine mist.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025
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 widely set apart dark eyes were luminous and there was a dusky rose color in her cheeks.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
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.
