Contextualizebeta

dark

adj
/dɑːk/UK/dɑɹk/US

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg-o-s Proto-Germanic *derkaz? Proto-West Germanic *derk Proto-West Germanic *-ōn Proto-West Germanic *derkōn Old English deorcian Middle English derken English dark Inherited from Middle English derken, from Old English deorcian, from Proto-West Germanic *derkōn, from *derk (“dirty, dark”) + *-ōn.

  1. derived from *dʰer-✻ — “dull, dirty”
  2. derived from *dʰerg-✻ — “dim, dull”
  3. inherited from *derk✻ — “dark”
  4. inherited from deorc
  5. inherited from derk

Definitions

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

    • The room was too dark for reading.
    • It was a dark and stormy night, the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets […]

  2. Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or…

    Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or comprehension

  3. Dull or deeper in hue

    Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.

    • My sister’s hair is darker than mine.
    • Her skin grew dark with a suntan.
    • 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.
  4. ›+ 16 more definitions

    1. Ambiguously or unclearly expressed.

      • What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?
      • What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain.
      • The Ways of Heav’n are dark and intricate, Puzzled in Mazes, and perplext with Errors; Our Underſtanding traces ’em in vain, Loſt and bewilder’d in the fruitleſs Search; […]

    2. Marked by or conducted with secrecy.

      • The dark side of the moon.
      • dark money
      • Meantime we shall express our darker purpose

    3. Without moral or spiritual light

      Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malevolent, malign.

      • a dark villain
      • a dark deed
      • Left him at large to his own dark designs.

    4. Conducive to hopelessness

      Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.

      • The Great Depression was a dark time.
      • The film was a dark psychological thriller.
      • A deep melancholy took possession of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature.

    5. Lacking progress in science or the arts.

      • The dark ages began after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
      • The Greek Dark Ages began after the Bronze Age collapse.
      • The age wherein he lived was dark, but he Could not want light who taught the world to see.

    6. Extremely sad, depressing, or somber, typically due to, or marked by, a tragic or…

      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.

    7. With emphasis placed on the unpleasant and macabre aspects of life

      With emphasis placed on the unpleasant and macabre 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.
      • This show is full of dark humor.

    8. Off the air

      Off the air; not transmitting.

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

      • Dark surrounds us completely.
      • Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out.
      • 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.[…].

    10. Ignorance.

      • We kept him in the dark.
      • The lawyer was left in the dark as to why the jury was dismissed.
      • Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' dark.

    11. Nightfall.

      • It was after dark before we got to playing baseball.

    12. A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.

      • The lights may serve for a repose to the darks, and the darks to the lights.

    13. To grow or become dark, darken.

    14. To remain in the dark, lurk, lie hidden or concealed.

      • To dark is still used in Swaledale (Yorkshire) in the sense of to lie hid, as, 'Te rattens [rats] mun ha bin darkin whel nu [till now]; we hannot heerd tem tis last fortnith'.

    15. To make dark, darken

      To make dark, darken; to obscure.

    16. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

0-dark-hundred, 0-dark-thirty, Alexander's dark band, all cats are grey in the dark, antidark, bedark, dark academia, dark academic, dark-activity, dark-adapted, dark advertising, dark age, dark ages, Dark Alfs, dark alternative scene, dark ambient, dark and stormy, dark art, dark as Egypt, dark as pitch, dark as the inside of a cow, dark blue, dark-blue snakeweed, dark blue snakeweed, Dark Brandon, dark bread, dark brown, dark cabaret, dark chocolate, dark cloud, dark-colored, dark comedy, Dark Continent, darkcore, Dark Corner, dark corn syrup, dark crimson underwing, dark culture, dark current, dark cutter · +153 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at dark. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01dark02receiving03reception04ability05necessary06free07clear

A definitional loop anchored at dark. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at dark

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA