tenebrousadj.n.
/ˈtɛnɪbrəs/ 1.
a. Full of darkness, dark.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > [adjective]
blinda1000
darkOE
lightlessOE
murkOE
therka1325
murkfula1400
unsheena1400
tenebrousc1420
tenebrose1490
tenebrate1492
sable?a1513
unlightsome1574
tenebrious1594
blindfold1601
Stygian1602
dayless1657
unenlightened1662
darklinga1718
rayless1727
tenebrific1786
twinkless1830
transdiurnal1848
glimmerless1889
gleamless1891
unlightened1896
c1420 J. Lydgate Assembly of Gods 1169 Tyll Cerberus Had hem beshut withyn hys gates tenebrus.
1490 Caxton's Blanchardyn & Eglantine (1962) xxxii. 121 A tenebrouse & derke dongeon.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) lv. sig. Miv The aduenturs of the tenebrous or darke towre.
1608 R. Johnson Seauen Champions ii. T iv Therewith drewe on the darke and tenebrous night.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Vertigo The other they call Scotomia, or Tenebrous Vertigo, when the Eyes are darkned and, as it were, cover'd with a Cloud.
1847 H. W. Longfellow Evangeline ii. ii. 29 Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs of the cypress Met in a dusky arch.
b. figurative. Obscure, gloomy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > darkness or gloom > [adjective]
duneOE
thestera900
thestria900
wana1000
darkfulOE
fadec1290
obscurousa1492
black-faced1562
murkyc1590
gloomy1594
tenebrous1599
solemn1604
overcast1616
mungy1632
shady1746
sombrous1754
sombre1760
gloomyish1821
gloomfula1849
ebonine1881
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 14 To..run astray..raking out of the dust-heape or charnell house of tenebrous eld, the rottenest relique of their monuments.
1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xvii. 137 Heraclitus, the grand Scotist, and tenebrous darksome Philosopher.
1823 New Monthly Mag. 8 13 The most tenebrous holes and corners of their author's obscurity.
1849 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 65 307 Even in that tenebrous philosophy which he has imported..he is very much at fault.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > [noun]
thesternessc888
thesterc897
murkOE
theosterleykc1000
darkc1300
darkheadc1300
murknessa1325
therknessa1325
darknessc1350
tenebres1413
tenebrousa1450
obscurity1481
tenebrosity1490
obscureness1509
dern?a1513
sable?a1513
darksomeness1571
fuliginousness1576
darkishness1583
murksomeness1625
obscure1667
soot1789
tenebrity1789
nightness1839
raylessness1843
lightlessness1845
darkling1882
unlight1883
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail lvi. l. 418 At ȝoure Castel there is Swich tenebrowse, that No man there Other May se.
Derivatives
ˈtenebrousness n. rare darkness.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΚΠ
1727 in N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.c1420