dark internet
Americannoun
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Also called dark net,. Also called lost net. the portion of the internet that is hidden from search engines and cannot be accessed, as when IP addresses are no longer working.
Etymology
Origin of dark internet
First recorded in 2000–05
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.
There are legitimate uses for Ipidea’s service, which can be used to surf the internet anonymously or to scrape websites for data.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026
A 2020 survey by Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics showed that while more than 95% of Nigerian youth aged between 15 and 35 can surf the internet, just about 45% had basic word processing skills.
From BBC • Dec. 31, 2023
Ms. Blair said that visitors to the show would be “surfing the museum” just as they surf the internet.
From New York Times • Mar. 22, 2023
Phones enable kids to surf the internet unmonitored; most I’ve spoken to know of ways to get around the parental apps watching over their devices.
From The Guardian • Nov. 1, 2019
The idea ran into trouble from the start, with students finding ways to bypass security in order to surf the internet and teachers complaining about a lack of training.
From Washington Times • Feb. 21, 2017
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.
