dark.
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
Meaning & usage
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
The room was too dark for reading.
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. Extinguished.
Dark signals should be treated as all-way stop signs.
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. Deprived of sight; blind.
Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or comprehension
Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.
My sister’s hair is darker than mine.
Her skin grew dark with a suntan.
Ambiguously or unclearly expressed.
Marked by or conducted with secrecy.
The dark side of the moon.
dark money
Marked by or conducted with secrecy. Having racing capability not widely known.
Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malevolent, malign.
a dark villain
a dark deed
Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
The Great Depression was a dark time.
The film was a dark psychological thriller.
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.
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.
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.
Off the air; not transmitting.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English derk, from Old English deorc, from Proto-West Germanic *derk (“dark”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- (“dim, dull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“dull, dirty”).
A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.
Dark surrounds us completely.
Ignorance.
We kept him in the dark.
The lawyer was left in the dark as to why the jury was dismissed.
Nightfall.
It was after dark before we got to playing baseball.
A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English derk, derke, dirke, dyrke, from the adjective (see above), or possibly from an unrecorded Old English *dierce, *diercu (“dark, darkness”).
To grow or become dark, darken.
To remain in the dark, lurk, lie hidden or concealed.
To make dark, darken; to obscure.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg-o-s Proto-Germanic *derkaz? Proto-West Germanic *derk Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną 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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.