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
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.
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 legs are rosy orange and dusky purple, punctuated by small bumps.
From Slate • Aug. 19, 2025
The abode of Sleep is near the black country of the Cimmerians, in a deep valley where the sun never shines and dusky twilight wraps all things in shadows.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
