darkness
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- darckness (obsolete)
- darkeness (obsolete)
- darknesse (obsolete)
- darkenesse (obsolete)
Etymology
[edit]From Middle English derknesse, from Old English deorcnes; equivalent to dark + -ness.
![](http://178.128.105.246/content-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Creation_of_Light.png/250px-Creation_of_Light.png)
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɑːknəs/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɑɹknɪs/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)knɪs, -ɑː(ɹ)knəs
- Hyphenation: dark‧ness
Noun
[edit]darkness (countable and uncountable, plural darknesses)
- (uncountable) The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light.
- The darkness of the room made it difficult to see.
- 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:
- Over everything was darkness and thick silence, and the smell of dust and sunflowers.
- 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:
- Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
- (uncountable) The state or quality of reflecting little light, of tending to a blackish or brownish color.
- The darkness of her skin betrayed her Mediterranean heritage.
- (uncountable, countable) Any space that such colour pervades.
- Out of the darkness came some flickers of light.
- (uncountable) Gloom; gloominess; depression.
- (countable) The product of being dark.
- (uncountable) Lack of understanding or compassion; spiritual or mental blindness.
- (uncountable) Secrecy; concealment.
- (uncountable) Lack of knowledge; obscurity or meaning or intelligibility; the unknown.
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 195:
- It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness.
- (uncountable) Nothingness, vanity, emptiness.
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXIV, page 53:
- My own dim life should teach me this,
That life shall live for evermore,
Else earth is darkness at the core,
And dust and ashes all that is; […]
- (uncountable) Hell.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime:
- Shepard: Can you tell me anything about the beacon?
Dr. Warren: It's some type of data module from a galaxy-wide communications network. Remarkably well-preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetime!
Dr. Warren: Miraculous new technologies. Groundbreaking medical advances. Who knows what secrets are locked inside?
Dr. Manuel: We have unearthed the heart of evil. Awakened the beast. Unleashed the darkness.
Synonyms
[edit]- dark (noun)
Antonyms
[edit]Hyponyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]- act of darkness
- better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
- better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
- better to light one candle than to curse the darkness
- better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness
- crater of eternal darkness
- Egyptian darkness
- illicit darkness
- nymph of darkness
- pitch darkness
- semi-darkness, semidarkness
- virtual darkness
Translations
[edit]state of being dark
|
gloom
|
the product of being dark
state of reflecting little light; tending to blackish or brownish
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms suffixed with -ness
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)knɪs
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)knɪs/2 syllables
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)knəs
- Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)knəs/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations