dark | Meaning of dark in English and Italian with examples - infoAnew" /> dark" /> dark" /> dark definition" /> dark in a sentence" />

🤩 Discover new information from across the web

dark definition

Overview

This page has 21 definitions of dark in English and Italian. Dark is an adjective, noun and verb. Examples of how to use dark in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .

See also: Dark

English dark definition

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English derk, from Old English deorc, from Proto-West Germanic *derk (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- (“dim, dull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“dull, dirty”).

Adjective
A fairly dark (lacking light) railroad station, with a very dark (lacking light) tunnel beyond
A woman with dark hair and skin.

dark (comparative darker, superlative darkest)

  1. Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
    The room was too dark for reading.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175:
      They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
    • 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
    1. (of a source of light) Extinguished.
      Dark signals should be treated as all-way stop signs.
    2. Deprived of sight; blind.
      • 29 March 1661 (entry), 1818 (first published), John Evelyn, Diary
        He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had been for some years.
  2. Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or comprehension: caliginous, darkling, dim, gloomy, lightless, sombre.
  3. (of colour) Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.
    my sister's hair is darker than mine;  her skin grew dark with a suntan
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:
      Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
    • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 2, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
      If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
  4. Ambiguously or unclearly expressed: enigmatic, esoteric, mysterious, obscure, undefined.
    • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene ii]:
      What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?
    • 1594–, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
      What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain.
    • 1801, Isaac Watts, The improvement of the mind, or A supplement to the art of logic
      It is the remark of an ingenious writer, should a barbarous Indian, who had never seen a palace or a ship, view their separate and disjointed parts, and observe the pillars, doors, windows, cornices and turrets of the one, or the prow and stern, the ribs and masts, the ropes and shrouds, the sails and tackle of the other, he would be able to form but a very lame and dark idea of either of those excellent and useful inventions.
    • 1881, John Shairp, Aspects of Poetry
      the dark problems of existence
  5. Marked by or conducted with secrecy: hidden, secret; clandestine, surreptitious.
    (gambling, of race horses) Having racing capability not widely known.
    • 1831, Benjamin Disraeli, The Young Duke — a moral tale though gay :
      The first favourite was never heard of, the second favourite was never seen after the distance post, all the ten-to-oners were in the rear, and a dark horse which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph.
  6. Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign.
    a dark villain;  a dark deed
  7. Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
    the Great Depression was a dark time;  the film was a dark psychological thriller
  8. (of a time period) Lacking progress in science or the arts.
    • 1668, Sir John Denham, The Progress of Learning
      The age wherein he lived was dark, but he
      Could not want light who taught the world to see.
    • 1837, Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
      The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediaeval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night.
  9. Extremely sad, depressing, or somber, typically due to, or marked by, a tragic or undesirable event.
    September 11, 2001, the day when four terrorist attacks destroyed the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, is often referred to as America's dark day.
    • 2014 April 1, “Marathon Mementos Remind of Boston's Dark Day”, in NBC News‎[1]:
  10. With emphasis placed on the unpleasant aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form, or a portion of either.
    The ending of this book is rather dark.
  11. (broadcasting, of a television station) Off the air; not transmitting.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
 
Related terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Dictionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

From Middle English derk, derke, dirke, dyrke, from the adjective (see above), or possibly from an unrecorded Old English *dierce, *diercu (“dark, darkness”).

Noun

dark (usually uncountable, plural darks)

  1. A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
      Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess‎[2]:
      The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].
    • 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
    Dark surrounds us completely.
  2. (uncountable) Ignorance.
    We kept him in the dark.
    The lawyer was left in the dark as to why the jury was dismissed.
  3. (uncountable) Nightfall.
    It was after dark before we got to playing baseball.
  4. A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.
Synonyms
Derived terms
 
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Dictionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 3

From Middle English derken, from Old English deorcian, from Proto-West Germanic *derkōn.

Verb

dark (third-person singular simple present darks, present participle darking, simple past and past participle darked)

  1. (intransitive) To grow or become dark, darken.
  2. (intransitive) To remain in the dark, lurk, lie hidden or concealed.
  3. (transitive) To make dark, darken; to obscure.

See also

Anagrams

Italian dark definition

Etymology

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdark/[1]
  • Rhymes: -ark
  • Hyphenation: dàrk

Adjective

dark (invariable)

  1. dark (used especially to describe a form of punk music)

References

  1. ^ dark in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=dark&oldid=69003307"