What does DARK mean?

Definitions for DARK
dɑrkdark

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word DARK.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. dark, darknessnoun

    absence of light or illumination

  2. iniquity, wickedness, darkness, darknoun

    absence of moral or spiritual values

    "the powers of darkness"

  3. darkness, dark, shadownoun

    an unilluminated area

    "he moved off into the darkness"

  4. night, nighttime, darknoun

    the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside

  5. dark, darknessadjective

    an unenlightened state

    "he was in the dark concerning their intentions"; "his lectures dispelled the darkness"

  6. darkadjective

    devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black

    "sitting in a dark corner"; "a dark day"; "dark shadows"; "dark as the inside of a black cat"

  7. darkadjective

    (used of color) having a dark hue

    "dark green"; "dark glasses"; "dark colors like wine red or navy blue"

  8. darkadjective

    brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes)

    "dark eyes"

  9. black, dark, sinisteradjective

    stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable

    "black deeds"; "a black lie"; "his black heart has concocted yet another black deed"; "Darth Vader of the dark side"; "a dark purpose"; "dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility"; "the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"-Thomas Hardy

  10. darkadjective

    secret

    "keep it dark"

  11. dark, dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, saturnine, sour, sullenadjective

    showing a brooding ill humor

    "a dark scowl"; "the proverbially dour New England Puritan"; "a glum, hopeless shrug"; "he sat in moody silence"; "a morose and unsociable manner"; "a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius"- Bruce Bliven; "a sour temper"; "a sullen crowd"

  12. benighted, darkadjective

    lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture

    "this benighted country"; "benighted ages of barbarism and superstition"; "the dark ages"; "a dark age in the history of education"

  13. dark, obscureadjective

    marked by difficulty of style or expression

    "much that was dark is now quite clear to me"; "those who do not appreciate Kafka's work say his style is obscure"

  14. blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim, sorry, drab, drear, drearyadjective

    causing dejection

    "a blue day"; "the dark days of the war"; "a week of rainy depressing weather"; "a disconsolate winter landscape"; "the first dismal dispiriting days of November"; "a dark gloomy day"; "grim rainy weather"

  15. colored, coloured, dark, dark-skinned, non-whiteadjective

    having skin rich in melanin pigments

    "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People"; "dark-skinned peoples"

  16. darkadjective

    not giving performances; closed

    "the theater is dark on Mondays"

Wiktionary

  1. darknoun

    A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.

    Dark surrounds us completely.

  2. darknoun

    Ignorance.

  3. darknoun

    Nightfall.

    It was after dark before we got to playing baseball.

  4. darkadjective

    Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.

    The room was too dark for reading.

  5. darkadjective

    Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.

  6. darkadjective

    Hidden, secret

  7. darkadjective

    Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign.

  8. darkadjective

    Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak

    The Great Depression was a dark time.

  9. darkadjective

    Lacking progress in science or the arts; said of a time period

  10. darkadjective

    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. darkadjective

    Extinguished.

    Dark signals should be treated as all-way stop signs.

  12. darkadjective

    Having racing capability not widely known.

  13. Etymology: From derk, from deorc, from derkaz, from dʰerg-, from dʰer-. Cognate with derken, terken and Albanian terr.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. DARKadjective

    Etymology: deorc, Saxon.

    Fleance, his son, who keeps him company,
    Must embrace the fate of that dark hour. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

    While we converse with her, we mark
    No want of day, nor think it dark. Edmund Waller.

    If the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean. 1 Lev. xiii. 6.

    In Muscovy itself the generality of the people are more inclined to have dark coloured hair than flaxen. Boyle.

    Thou wretched daughter of a dark old man,
    Conduct my weary steps. John Dryden, Oedipus.

    What may seem dark at the first, will afterwards be found more plain. Richard Hooker, b. i. sect. 1.

    Mean time we shall express our darker purpose. William Shakespeare.

    The age, wherein he liv’d, was dark; but he
    Could not want sight, who taught the world to see. John Denham.

    All men of dark tempers, according to their degree of melancholy or enthusiasm, may find convents fitted to their humours. Joseph Addison, on Italy.

  2. Darknoun

    Come, thick night,
    And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
    That my keen knife see not the wound it makes;
    Nor heav’n peep through the blanket of the dark,
    To cry hold, hold! William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

    Cloud and ever-during dark
    Surrounds me! from the chearful ways of men
    Cut off. John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. iii. l. 45.

    Whereas seeing requires light, and a free medium, and a right line to the objects, we can hear in the dark immured, and by curve lines. William Holder, Elements of Speech.

    All he says of himself is, that he is an obscure person; one, I suppose he means, that is in the dark, and thinks it proper to continue so. Francis Atterbury.

    ’Till we ourselves perceive by our own understandings, we are as much in the dark, and as void of knowledge, as before. John Locke.

  3. To Darkverb

    To darken; to obscure: obsolete.

    Etymology: from the noun.

    Fair when her breast, like a rich laden bark
    With precious merchandize, she forth doth lay:
    Fair when that cloud of pride, which oft doth dark
    Her goodly light, with smiles she drives away. Edmund Spenser.

Wikipedia

  1. Dark

    Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are inactive when light levels are insufficient, in the range of visual perception referred to as scotopic vision. The emotional response to darkness has generated metaphorical usages of the term in many cultures, often used to describe an unhappy or foreboding feeling. Referring to a time of day, complete darkness occurs when the Sun is more than 18° below the horizon, without the effects of twilight on the night sky.

ChatGPT

  1. dark

    Dark can have multiple meanings depending on the context. Here are a few general definitions: 1. Adjective: Lacking or having very little light; not illuminated. Example: "I couldn't see anything in the dark room." 2. Adjective: Characterized by a deep, somber, or mysterious atmosphere or tone. Example: "The movie had a dark and unsettling ending." 3. Adjective: Evil, morally wrong, or associated with negativity. Example: "He has a dark past filled with criminal activities." 4. Noun: The absence or partial absence of light; the time of day when it is not light. Example: "She prefers to walk her dog in the dark to avoid crowds." Please note that these definitions are general and the term "dark" can have further specific meanings in various contexts such as emotions, colors, mythology, or genres of literature and film.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Darkadjective

    destitute, or partially destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored; as, a dark room; a dark day; dark cloth; dark paint; a dark complexion

  2. Darkadjective

    not clear to the understanding; not easily seen through; obscure; mysterious; hidden

  3. Darkadjective

    destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant

  4. Darkadjective

    evincing black or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious; as, a dark villain; a dark deed

  5. Darkadjective

    foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious

  6. Darkadjective

    deprived of sight; blind

  7. Darknoun

    absence of light; darkness; obscurity; a place where there is little or no light

  8. Darknoun

    the condition of ignorance; gloom; secrecy

  9. Darknoun

    a dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, or the like; as, the light and darks are well contrasted

  10. Darkverb

    to darken to obscure

  11. Etymology: [OE. dark, derk, deork, AS. dearc, deorc; cf. Gael. & Ir. dorch, dorcha, dark, black, dusky.]

Wikidata

  1. Dark

    In the broadcasting industry, a dark or silent radio or television station is one that has gone off-the-air for an indefinite period of time. Unlike dead air, a station that is dark does not even transmit a carrier signal.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Dark

    därk, adj. without light: black, or somewhat black: gloomy: difficult to understand: unenlightened: secret: sinister.—n. absence of light: obscurity: a state of ignorance.—adv. (Shak.) in a state of dark.—v.t. Dark′en, to make dark: to render ignorant: to sully.—v.i. to grow dark or darker.—n. Dark′-house (Shak.), a mad-house.—adj. Dark′ish, somewhat dark: dusky.—v.i. Dark′le, to grow dark.—adv. and adj. Dark′ling, dark: in the dark.—advs. Dark′lings (poet.), in the dark; Dark′ly.—n. Dark′ness.—adj. Dark′some, dark: (poet.) gloomy.—ns. Dark′y, Dark′ey, a negro: (slang) a policeman's lantern.—Dark ages, the period of intellectual darkness in Europe, from the 5th to the 15th century.—Darken the door, to enter in at the door.—A dark horse, in racing, a horse whose capabilities are not known: a candidate about whom it is not known till the last moment that he is a candidate.—Keep dark, to be silent or secret; Keep it dark, to conceal.—The prince of darkness, Satan. [A.S. deorc.]

Suggested Resources

  1. dark

    Song lyrics by dark -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by dark on the Lyrics.com website.

  2. DARK

    What does DARK stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the DARK acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. DARK

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Dark is ranked #12399 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Dark surname appeared 2,507 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 would have the surname Dark.

    63.6% or 1,596 total occurrences were White.
    20% or 502 total occurrences were Black.
    11.5% or 290 total occurrences were Asian.
    2.9% or 74 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.4% or 36 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    0.3% or 9 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'DARK' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #945

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'DARK' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1664

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'DARK' in Nouns Frequency: #1358

  4. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'DARK' in Adjectives Frequency: #114

How to pronounce DARK?

How to say DARK in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of DARK in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of DARK in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of DARK in a Sentence

  1. Paul Klee:

    Beauty is as relative as light and dark. Thus, there exists no beautiful woman, none at all, because you are never certain that a still far more beautiful woman will not appear and completely shame the supposed beauty of the first.

  2. Dan Hays:

    Using dark mode could actually be a significant power savings, a display that's mostly black could be a sizable improvement to battery performance, and from a personal standpoint, it seems like a nice feature if you're trying to use the phone discreetly in an area that's already dark.

  3. Tina Cordova:

    We had been kept in the dark.

  4. Martin Tobias Lithner:

    Vacuum energy is the leftovers from dark energy, just like the déjà vu’s in our everyday life.

  5. Oprah Winfrey:

    People talk about 'these are such dark times', but what if we shift the paradigm? Because I see it differently, i see, 'Isn't this remarkable that we're waking up?' For years, women have endured craziness. This is what's happening to people. They're allowing themselves to not just become corroded, but to become hysterical. You've got to lean to the happiness.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

DARK#1#1640#10000

Translations for DARK

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for DARK »

Translation

Find a translation for the DARK definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"DARK." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/DARK>.

Discuss these DARK definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for DARK? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Image or illustration of

    DARK

    Credit »

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events
    A sheath
    B mitre
    C elan
    D recital

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for DARK: