请输入您要查询的英文单词:

 

单词 dark
释义

Definition of dark in English:

dark

adjective dɑːkdɑrk
  • 1With little or no light.

    it's too dark to see much
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Install exterior lights that automatically come on when it gets dark and go off when it's light.
    • Meanwhile I get things organized around the apartment in case we're without power when it gets dark.
    • It grew dark, and Burginde pulled open the tarpaulin flap to speak to the drover.
    • When it gets dark outside, it invariably gets dark inside too.
    • I've always been like a cave-woman - awake when it's light and asleep as soon as it gets dark.
    • It was just getting dark when he pulled into the parking lot of the Honey Biscuit Hotel and Restaurant.
    • Deacon flipped on his bright headlights as he pulled onto a dark and vacant road.
    • Do what you have to do early, when it gets dark go to bed then wake up early and complete your homework.
    • A man was dragged into a dark car park in Southend town centre and robbed at knifepoint by two thugs.
    • I have come to the creek, she said, to shine my flashlight on the animals in the water when it gets dark.
    • When it gets dark the canaries stop singing but at dawn they start again and wake up the guards.
    • The edges are darkened and distressed as if they were rescued from a box of letters kept in a dark attic.
    • Oranjestad harbor is well lit if it gets dark before you get there.
    • The room was very dark and the only sound was the almost melodical, yet nasal beep of the heart monitor.
    • The room suddenly went dark as the King pulled heavy curtains across the light from the window.
    • It had been a beautiful, sunny day but even with the extra hour of evening daylight it was getting very dark as we pulled out of Boston onto the Louth road.
    • The room was almost completely dark, and no sounds could be heard throughout the entire house.
    • The room was dark because he pulled the shades on his windows down before he left in the morning.
    • Where I live, when it gets dark, it is rare for people to go outside unless they are going to buy something!
    • Ethan then finally pulled into a dark alley way between a closed restaurant and crafts store.
    Synonyms
    black, pitch-black, pitch-dark, inky, jet-black, unlit, unlighted, unilluminated, ill-lit, poorly lit
    starless, moonless, dim, dingy, gloomy, dusky, indistinct, shadowy, shady
    leaden, overcast, sunless
    literary crepuscular, tenebrous
    rare Stygian, Cimmerian, Tartarean, caliginous
    1. 1.1 (of a theatre) closed; not in use.
      when I came to work here, over half the West End theatres were dark
      Example sentencesExamples
      • There is no longer a show, the theatre is dark, and The Mirage ironically lives up to its name.
      • As long as they keep the theaters dark teenagers will attend movies. [Reply to this comment]
      • The theatre's dark today, which is just as well because the police have just cordoned off the top of Roseberry Avenue with red tape.
      • The theatre I worked in before this was being refurbished over the summer, and so the dark period was extended.
      • Because the theatre's dark, it does odd things to the Front of House dept's shifts.
  • 2(of a colour or object) not reflecting much light; approaching black in shade.

    dark green
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Nose, ears, and feet are covered with dark sepia hairs and the tail hairs are almost black.
    • Members of the Royal Family and their households will wear dark colours and black ties.
    • They power dress in stern, cut suits, usually in dark colours such as black, grey or navy.
    • He was wearing a dark coloured baseball cap, dark jacket and blue jeans.
    • The clouds took on a fiery orange hue and the few open patches that led to the blue sky were a dark purple.
    • The man was wearing a navy jumper, light blue shirt, dark blue jacket, grey or black trousers and black shoes.
    • Washing is done each day with a light coloured load alternating with a load of dark colours.
    • The sky was now a dark purple rather than the black it had been when they first arrived in the graveyard.
    • Shades of dark green, blue and red designs and grand borders are popular designs on a saree.
    • Tea is no longer just about a cup of dark jasmine tea, served so sweet that it makes your teeth ache.
    • They wear light blue shirts, dark pants and these black arm badges with IP written on them and the flag.
    • Her pelt was a dark tan with lighter streaks around the ribs and on the stomach.
    • All shades of purple were displayed in dark hues, mauves, lilacs and magentas.
    • He was wearing a black jacket with white reflection marks, dark blue jeans and trainers.
    • She had done the base coat of black, and was overlapping it with sponged on dark purple.
    • The loss of light also meant that this house was associated with black or very dark colours.
    • His carpet was a dark shade of green that almost looked black, and his walls were off-white.
    • The glass front of the store was painted black with slashes of dark colours running though it.
    • He was wearing a black peaked cap, dark leather jacket, light coloured trousers.
    • Thin dark green carpets covered the area, contrasting faintly with the dark colour of the wood.
    1. 2.1 (of someone's skin, hair, or eyes) brown or black in colour.
      dark curly hair
      Example sentencesExamples
      • He had jet black hair and his dark brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of silver frames.
      • The dark-haired beauty pulled off her sunglasses, twirling them in her right thumb and index finger.
      • She was about an inch shorter than me, with long black hair, dark eyes, and a sardonic smirk.
      • She had short dark hair and matching dark eyes and wore black pants with a red tank top under her apron.
      • Another had an abundance of frizzy dark hair, dark eyes and olive skin, she was the shortest of them all.
      • Behind her stood a guy of about twenty-two with sandy brown hair and dark eyes.
      • His tall and gaunt framed, combined with his dark eyes and black hair, made him distrusted.
      • He had blondish brown hair, dark eyes and was chubby, not fat, but chubby.
      • She had long brown hair and dark eyes, and Jim really had to work to keep up with her on the slopes.
      • To Ciara, she looked like an angel with brown skin, brown eyes and dark hair.
      • He is a tall Scotsman with dark curly hair, beautiful dark eyes and is almost too handsome.
      • She pulled her dark wavy curls out of her face and anchored her thin frame against Zeeks's side.
      • The dark skinned woman pulled up her sleeve and revealed two scars running up her left wrist.
      • She was clearly beautiful, with a slightly dusky skin tone, curly black hair and dark eyes.
      • Tall, dark brown hair, very dark eyes that put you on the spot and black clothes.
      • He was tattooed all over, and had an untidy mane of black hair and flashing dark eyes.
      • He gave a quick and hesitant smile, and his wavy brown hair covered his dark eyes.
      • He was in his teens from what I saw; he had black hair, dark skin, and deep brown eyes.
      • He was a tall, with black hair and dark eyes; also an athlete, he was quite a tennis player.
      • She was a real beauty with black hair and dark eyes, almost the looks of a gypsy.
      Synonyms
      brunette, dark brown, auburn, tawny, copper-coloured, coppery, chestnut, chestnut-coloured, jet-black, sable, ebony
      dark-haired
      swarthy, sallow, olive, dusky, black, ebony
      tanned, bronzed, suntanned, sunburned
      dark-skinned
    2. 2.2 (of a person) having dark skin, hair, or eyes.
      a tall, dark girl
      both my father and I are very dark
      Example sentencesExamples
      • There was one man who, though he was dark, had the most incredible eyes of gold.
      • Almost instantly Rebecca and her stopped screaming and stared at the dark girl.
      • I was the only dark kid in the class and I couldn't play the same Anglo characters as everybody else could.
      • They were dark, their skin a yellowish brown and their hair black.
      • Have you got short dark hair?
      • The people are dark skinned, their faces pinched, their bodies hunched as though perpetually cold.
      • A tall, dark man arrived breathlessly, and looked at me with bright eyes.
      • I was a bit lost in my identity because Mum's got red hair and Dad's quite dark.
      • She was dark and exotic and not at all like the other girls in school, but destiny intervened.
      • He closes his eyes then opens them to see the dark girl walking out the door.
      • She was a dark girl with almost perfect features and huge, smouldering eyes.
      • He was a tall, lean, dark man with an ebullient waxed moustache; around his head he wrapped a woolly muffler.
      • A dark-complexioned girl is engaged to be married to a dark man much older than her.
      • Why do we have dark people where there's a lot of sun, and light people where there's less sun.
      • He will be a very dark man, with jet black hair cut very short and he may have an arm band tattoo.
      • Physically he was dark, bearded, grey eyed and just under medium height.
      • Then it is the turn of a tall dark girl with a Russian name, who glowers at me and says.
      • The dark girl was an enigma that Nicola knew nothing about, and therefore she intrigued her.
      • The girl was dark and bad looking enough for him to know what kind of thing she had abandoned him to do.
      • If a daughter is too dark skinned she may not be able to find a good husband.
  • 3(of a period or situation) characterized by great unhappiness or unpleasantness.

    the dark days of the war
    Example sentencesExamples
    • The period has often been pictured as a dark era full of persecutions of the Christian peoples.
    • We don't have another play lined up but we've had dark periods before where we've had a lull between productions.
    • It was during the dark days of the BSE crisis that inspired the local man to adapt and diversify to save his future as a farmer.
    • High school, where he was graded for the first time, was a dark period.
    • The three decades of Nicholas's rule came to be regarded as a particularly dark period of Russian history.
    • When I wrote it I was going through a very dark period of my life, a kind of hiatus if you like.
    • They would not have continued to resist through all the dark days of 1940 and 1941 when Britain stood alone.
    • With the departure of Lee Bowyer, Leeds are also attempting to draw a line under a dark period in their history.
    • The dark period of India's history needs to addressed with grave concern and in its proper perspective.
    • Only a few months ago they prophesied the advent of a new dark age.
    • Italy have suffered a dark period since losing the final of Euro 2000 but are emerging again into the light.
    • In college I went through a dark period, a time when I felt so alone I was sure I would break.
    • Something about film noir seems to go hand in hand with this dark period of America's history.
    • It was a dark period for Szymanowski, during which he was quite unable to believe in himself as a composer.
    • It was a good thing for me to get out of town but it was all a very dark period for me that I then wrote about in Force Majeure.
    • At the beginning of this campaign I said that this is a dark period for the union, but we would come through it and the union would be stronger.
    • Clyde Prestowitz told Alison Caldwell that it was a dark day for the World Trade Organisation.
    • It also draws a neat line under a dark period of his life, which saw him reeling from the deaths of his parents within six months of each other.
    • It is hoped this will now be the end of a dark period in South African rugby.
    • We've been through a lot together, through dark days and nights and seasons of hope and joy.
    Synonyms
    tragic, disastrous, calamitous, catastrophic, cataclysmic, ruinous, devastating
    dire, ghastly, awful, unfortunate, dreadful, horrible, terrible, horrific, hideous, horrendous, frightful, atrocious, abominable, abhorrent, gruesome, grisly, monstrous, nightmarish, heinous, harrowing
    wretched, woeful
    literary direful
    1. 3.1 Deeply pessimistic.
      a dark vision of the future
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Both films also have fairly dark moments, yet still leave you feeling uplifted at the end, and even during some of the darkest parts.
      • A folky lament on death and love, it never sounds as dark as its lyrics intend because of tremendous harmonies.
      • If you've never seen the film and have a taste for esoteric dark comedies, give this one a spin.
      • The forest itself is a dark terror of sound and half-seen images.
      • Your new book Dr Sweet… is a dark comedy - what is your favourite comedy film or tv series?
      • Saw a Kurosawa movie after a long time. A very dark retelling of an anyway dark Shakespeare drama.
      • Miller's dark body of work always exposed the American dream as a nightmare.
      • Marie also expressed her emotions through dark and disturbing poetry and writings.
      • Drawing inspiration from pulp fiction, it presents a dark tale of love, sex, violence and loss.
      Synonyms
      gloomy, dismal, pessimistic, negative, defeatist, downbeat, gloom-ridden, cynical, bleak, grim, fatalistic, black, sombre, drab, dreary
      despairing, despondent, depressed, dejected, demoralized, hopeless, cheerless, joyless, melancholy, glum, lugubrious, Eeyorish, grave, funereal, morose, mournful, doleful, suspicious, distrustful, doubting, alarmist
    2. 3.2 (of an expression) angry.
      Matthew flashed a dark look at her
      Example sentencesExamples
      • The dark expression left his face and a trace of coolness lit up in his gray eyes.
      • Ezmo looked shocked for a moment, and then his brow drew together in a dark, brooding frown.
      • The man had sharp blue eyes and a dark expression on his face as he crossed the space between them.
      • It was an intemperate outburst, but even as he stamped out of the room with a dark glower, his inquisitors were breaking into smiles.
      • The girls attained dark expressions and each of them started growling slightly.
      • Allison shivered at his words and noticed the dark expressions of her two other companions.
      • With an expression to rival the dark mood, the Employer marched over to the black chair in a rage.
      • Dark brown hair covered her large eyes, hiding the dark expression in her eyes.
      • He didn't say anything, a dark expression on his face as he watched his brother.
      • Brian caught his wrist a hair's breadth away from her cheek with a dark expression.
      • The prince scowled and took on a dark expression that Merlin had not seen before on the cordial coyote.
      • Arin asked, unaware of how dark her expression had gotten just by asking that much.
      • His voice was dark and angry, and filled with an everlasting promise of revenge.
      • An irritated glare adorned his otherwise striking face, dark and morose and very, very angry.
      • Yellow eyes glowing vengefully, his expression was hooded, dark and menacing.
      • Chris licked his lips and stared up at me with a serious dark expression.
      • He wasn't scowling or had a dark masked expression on his face anymore, he was quiet.
      • They were in a deep discussion, with dark, disapproving expressions on their face.
      • He had deep wrinkles in his face and his dark, angry eyes were hidden under thick eyebrows.
      • Dark red, the kind that pricks behind your ears when you get angry, the kind that feels like dark rage, tastes of thick metal.
      Synonyms
      moody, brooding, sullen, dour, glum, morose, sulky, frowning, scowling, glowering, angry, forbidding, threatening, ominous
    3. 3.3 Suggestive of or arising from evil; sinister.
      so many dark deeds had been committed
      Example sentencesExamples
      • The deal was that Sishera would become a woman that served under the dark power.
      • The most basic statement of the tradition is that there is a double mystery, the dark mystery of evil and the bright mystery of goodness.
      • I find it difficult to believe that he could just switch allegiances as easily as that, there must be a dark sinister plot.
      • How do I address people who feel that the Harry Potter films are too dark and filled with evil and magic and need to be burned?
      • She too is evil, dark and wicked and she too will pay the price if she does die.
      • However, guides still relate stories of the palace's dark deeds with a certain grisly humour.
      • There are those, however, who suggest dark forces have been at work.
      • Now he was taking a more proactive stance in his fight against evil and the dark forces.
      • For some time now, taking hormone replacement therapy has been almost synonymous with embracing the dark forces of evil.
      • The moor evolves from geological hazard into a metaphor for dark thoughts and evil deeds.
      • Those who chose the latter started connecting the owl to dark forces, evil forces, and death.
      • The dog turned around to face the man and growled deep in his throat, a dark sinister sound.
      • Shadow magic was evil magic it was dark and could do things normal magic could not.
      • Seduction Cinema serves this dark tale of supernatural seduction on a silver platter.
      • The white light is a spell that will over come the dark forces of evil and destroy it.
      • Why is the access to the woods, which is full of dark evil, located behind the school?
      • Is there something dark and sinister about this clown that we can never really understand?
      • It is in fact the dark evil of laziness and ignorance disguised as an altruistic urge and that is why you rightly feel anxious!
      • A movie which is about dark power and evil, it uses the most powerful of Indian myths to its advantage.
      • There were dark and sinister things in the Dalewoodian nights, things left to fable and myth.
      Synonyms
      evil, wicked, sinful, immoral, wrong, morally wrong, wrongful, bad, iniquitous
      ungodly, unholy, irreligious, unrighteous, sacrilegious, profane, blasphemous, impious, godless, base, mean, vile
      shameful, discreditable, unspeakable, foul, monstrous, shocking, outrageous, atrocious, abominable, reprehensible, hateful, detestable, despicable, odious, contemptible, horrible, heinous, execrable, diabolical, diabolic, fiendish, vicious, murderous, barbarous, black, rotten, perverted, reprobate, sordid, degenerate, depraved, dissolute, dishonourable, dishonest, unscrupulous, unprincipled
      informal crooked, bent, warped, low-down, stinking, dirty, shady
      Law malfeasant
      rare dastardly, peccable, egregious, flagitious
  • 4Hidden from knowledge; mysterious.

    a dark secret
    Example sentencesExamples
    • I pushed the memory of my dad to the back of my head, as far as it would go into the dark depths of the past.
    • She's going to share a dark secret that could help others who've gone through the same ordeal.
    • It sounds more or less exactly as you would expect it to sound, i.e. dark, brooding, melodic and quite lovely.
    • She had dark hair with dark eyes, and a dark personality, hence her code name.
    • The two become entangled in conversation, revealing deep, dark secrets about themselves.
    • I didn't know if he'd still want to see me if he knew my dark secret and I resolved not to tell him.
    • He seldom smiles; he gave this interview because he wants to purge himself of his deep and dark secrets.
    • Directed by Norman Alexander, the show is a British farce of a dark murder mystery.
    • Various forms of paganism offer us ‘deep and dark knowledge’ - but it is all confusion.
    • But his power and wealth hide a dark secret, which when revealed brings his world tumbling down around him.
    • But she was hiding a dreadful, dark secret - one that she felt she could not share, not even with her family.
    • So prayer comes from these mysterious, deep, dark places, and where does prayer go to?
    • But the pirates have a dark secret of their own, since they have been cursed after stealing a bewitched pile of treasure.
    • The bright facades of present-day Willemstad conceal the dark secrets of offshore finance.
    • But dolphins have a dark secret - their nasty habit of ganging up on porpoises and headbutting them to death.
    • And like Senay, the audience also learn in due course that Okwe has some dark secrets of his own.
    • But her latest book, The Wish House is a return to her first love: the scare story, the tale of dark secrets.
    • A limerick novelist has just launched her second novel, a tale of a bored housewife with a dark secret.
    • The play, which looks at first as if it might be just cute and entertaining, soon begins to hint at dark secrets.
    • It's time to probe once again into the deep, dark recesses of the criminal mind.
    • All three protagonists try to piece the clues together in order to unveil the dark mysteries at work.
    • She would not look away from it, she would not look into the dark depths of the Prince's eyes.
    • What dark secrets are going to be uncovered about El Presidente by 2030?
    • Mothers and pushchairs crowd the OK Laundrette, beside the dark mysteries of the Wizard Tattoo Shop.
    Synonyms
    mysterious, secret, hidden, concealed, veiled, unrevealed, covert, clandestine
    enigmatic, arcane, esoteric, obscure, abstruse, recondite, recherché, inscrutable, impenetrable, opaque, incomprehensible, cryptic
    Military black
    1. 4.1darkesthumorous (of a region) most remote, inaccessible, or uncivilized.
      he lives somewhere in darkest Essex
      Example sentencesExamples
      • I had banished that vile song to the darkest recesses of my soul, and you had to resurrect it.
      • Mysterious giant beasts may lurk in the darkest depths of the ocean, making whale-like noises that are baffling scientists, it was disclosed today.
      • She escaped the deepest darkest depths of middle England and having tried out London and New York for size currently resides in Glasgow Scotland.
    2. 4.2archaic Ignorant; unenlightened.
      he is dark on certain points of scripture
      Example sentencesExamples
      • I'm not just defending the Wii, I'm defending all gaming consoles from ignorant people. Now here's where you can either remain in your dark ignorant state, or give in to the truth.
      • To some people he is a small light of truth in a wilderness of dark ignorance. What he is you will have to decide for your self.
      • Science, they say, leading mankind to progress, peace, and tranquility, safeguards bright minds from dark, ignorant times.
      • While Christianity claims to have gradually lifted humanity out of dark ignorance of a dark pre-Christian world, the truth is opposite.
  • 5Phonetics
    Denoting a velarized form of the sound of the letter l as it sounds at the end of a word or before another consonant (as in full or bulk in most accents of English).

    Often contrasted with clear
    Example sentencesExamples
    • In the recording out of the nine opportunities for Janet to use the dark /l/, each time she used clear /l/ just as Dublin speakers do.
    • English has two allophones for /l/, "light/clearl" and "darkl". I am conducting a study on the distribution of these two allophones.
    • The /l/ sound that appears at the ends of words (actually, in coda position of syllables) is referred to as ‘dark /l/’ and is transcribed as /l with a squiggle.
    • Since L Vocalization is stigmatized, people "moving up" to RP often do not hear the difference between dark L and vocalized L (o), and so substitute light L instead of their vocalized L in words such as pill, milk people.
    • To pronounce the dark 'l' in girl or world, unroll the tongue and press the tip up against the alveolar ridge just behind the teeth.
noun dɑːkdɑrk
  • 1the darkThe absence of light in a place.

    Carolyn was sitting in the dark
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Maybe you drive with no lights in the dark in case you shine them on somebody coming the other way.
    • Plants at the flowering stage were placed in the dark for one night before each experiment.
    • There are signs on the opposite side to the disabled bays but I didn't see them in the dark.
    • She was trying to find her way to the loo in the dark, and she just sort of crashed into it.
    • It is thought that Rowan ran through fencing in the dark and slithered into the ditch.
    • That scene pops into my head every time I have to get into my car on a foggy winter morning in the dark.
    • Alex ground her teeth and sat up, swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there glaring at him in the dark.
    • One night some kids came past in the dark and on bikes and nearly knocked me over.
    • They were both special forces pilots, an elite who knew how to fly low, fast and in the dark.
    • I went outside and found Ross sitting in the dark, the sound of crickets was all around.
    • He's had a nightlight for a few months now - we gave in to his growing unease of being in the dark.
    • Parents in Oldham are now being urged to be on their guard and not let their children out alone in the dark.
    • She was surprised that the man didn't even stumble on the thick underbrush in the dark.
    • It was quite normal to go into someone's study and find two people sitting on a bed together in the dark.
    • I did not like having to park my car in the dark, with all the crime I hear about at the hospital.
    • She would often find Arthur sitting alone somewhere in the dark for that was what he often did now.
    • We skied for too long, missed the train down and were forced to trudge to the top of a mountain in the dark.
    • Seeds were placed on moist filter paper in Petri dishes in the dark to germinate.
    • It is hard to give the benefit of any doubt to someone who dressed in the dark.
    • I sat, in the dark, for all I knew I was in a very lit room but all I could see was darkness.
    Synonyms
    darkness, blackness, absence of light, gloom, gloominess, dimness, dullness, murk, murkiness, shadowiness, shadow, shade, shadiness, dusk, twilight, gloaming
    rare tenebrosity
    1. 1.1mass noun Nightfall.
      I'll be home before dark
      Example sentencesExamples
      • This pyrotechnical extension to the Great Wall glowed eerily under dark of night as the fire climbed up and over dunes.
      • In morning dark, Bradson was woken by the mosque singer, as he had been each morning he had been in this Sasak village.
      • That eerie morning dark only exists on rainy mornings with the curtains drawn.
      • Working from dawn until dark can become the breeding ground toward poor health in both mind and body.
      Synonyms
      night, night-time, darkness, hours of darkness
      nightfall, evening, twilight, sunset
  • 2A dark colour or shade, especially in a painting.

    lights and darks are juxtaposed arbitrarily to create a sense of shallow relief
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Contrast between lights and darks was a bit fuzzy, not doing justice to the fine cinematography.
    • This is the explanation for the pattern of underpainting in simple areas of pure tone, pure lights and darks.
    • In using the work of Caravaggio, I show how he, in his Baroque manner, used diagonals and foreshortening to bring viewers into the picture plane and engaged us visually by leading us in and around the lights and darks.
    • The drawings are strong examples of a dramatic technique, and they encourage the viewer to look beyond the subject to the artistic play of lights and darks and the compositional design of the picture plane.
    • Full of jagged darks, glaring lights and Joan gun-toting in furs, this movie is the pinnacle of what the kids are calling ‘lady-noir’.
    • Lights and darks are evenly blended with edge enhancement and grain kept to the bare minimum.
    • Brian sees the world in black and white, and Caravaggio painted in lights and darks.
    • Using basic unmixed colors, right next to higher contrasting colors, Kinley adequately communicates darks and lights.
    • Essentially these qualities were a roughness and variety of texture, and an intricacy of forms, combined with darks and lights bringing them to life.
    • Rather than dwelling in Hopper's creepy shadows, Turner contrasts his darks with halos of golden sunlight.
    • Before I sliced my thumb I was working on a grandly chiaroscuro-ed subject, of an alleyway in London, seeking to get the rich darks and the lucid lights I am coming to think of as my favourite subject and my ultimate challenge.
    • The contrast between darks and lights is so spectacular that you can actually differentiate how Buddy's five o'clock shadow changes between the old and new scenes.
    • Squint your eyes and see the landscape as a series of shapes, lights and darks, as opposed to seeing every detail.
    • His great assets are originality of approach and a sure, often dramatic, control of lights and darks.
    • The triangles of fabric are set in an over all pattern with the lights and darks playing against each other to show the prints to best advantage.
    • Tucked away in an unassuming room at the Ferens Art Gallery, the 19th century landscape is without doubt the work of a master, the lights and darks interwoven to weave a moving tapestry in oils.
    • Lights and darks, reflections and shadows as found on the surface of moving bodies of water, are the subjects of Elyn Zimmerman's large scale, black-and-white drawings.
    • My uncle turns, glances at me, the sun from behind the clouds casting lights and darks across his lean face - sharp cheekbones, high forehead.
    • Kehoe's broad brushstrokes reduce the surfaces and modeling of her subjects to angular planes of lights and darks.
    • Turning his attention to his more immediate surroundings, White found that he was seated on a very soft fur skin of some sort - a dappled pattern of lights and darks.
    Synonyms
    darkness, blackness, absence of light, gloom, gloominess, dimness, dullness, murk, murkiness, shadowiness, shadow, shade, shadiness, dusk, twilight, gloaming

Phrases

  • the darkest hour is just before the dawn

    • proverb When things seem to be at their worst they are about to start improving.

      Example sentencesExamples
      • They say that the darkest hour is just before the dawn and in this case it is true.
      • My theme was that the darkest hour is just before the dawn, and though it does seem to be the darkest hour, we have to have some Resurrection hope and keep learning from our partners and walking forwards.
      • So take heart, the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
      • She understood that the harshest suffering precedes the redemption, that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
      • Remember that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
  • in the dark

    • In a state of ignorance.

      the player is still in the dark about his future
      Example sentencesExamples
      • For how much longer will the people of Bedford put up with being kept in the dark?
      • The public may not be entirely in the know, but it isn't entirely in the dark, either.
      • It goes on to claim that many companies are still in the dark about the changes.
      • The defender claimed he took the decision to keep his gaffer in the dark for all the right reasons.
      • She claimed the working group had been kept in the dark about much of the planning for the event.
      • I would not exactly call him a liar for keeping us all in the dark about his plans.
      • I'm in the dark about many of the scientific facts and I would like to know a lot more.
      • So, do you know someone being kept in the dark because they cannot see the printed word?
      • They are a bit in the dark and they are a bit worried about what that information might be.
      • As to anything concrete about the decade unfolding he's as much in the dark as the rest of us.
      • It was so much easier then for people in power to influence what we got to know and what we were kept in the dark about.
      • Both Mr Scholar and Mr Markham had the sense that they were being kept in the dark.
      • Northern Spirit made a bad situation much worse by keeping passengers in the dark.
      • Keeping them in the dark, even as a way of protecting them, only fuels their fears.
      • By the fourth I was utterly alone and totally in the dark about where I was, so to speak.
      • Union officials have been critical of company bosses for keeping staff in the dark.
      • The reader is not allowed to be in the dark as to why Indonesia became so important, for instance.
      • Naturally, no more did appear and the American public has been kept in the dark ever since.
      • It also provides a handy pointer to The Camel-Toe Report for anyone still in the dark.
      • The vast majority of health workers have been left completely in the dark about what is on offer.
      Synonyms
      unaware of, ignorant of, in ignorance of, oblivious to, uninformed about, unenlightened about, unacquainted with, unconversant with
  • keep something dark

    • Keep something secret.

      you've kept your plans very dark
  • a shot (or stab) in the dark

    • An act whose outcome cannot be foreseen; a guess.

      their experiments were little more than shots in the dark
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Even if you are truly ambitious, it's a mistake to apply for jobs which are too much of a shot in the dark.
      • If it was a shot in the dark, it was uncannily accurate: there are many common Irish names, most of which would come more readily to the tongue.
      • Just a shot in the dark really, I didn't expect it to work…
      • This may be a shot in the dark, but to me I see the emerging trend and I see it in one capitalist icon; Wal-Mart.
      • I know this is a shot in the dark, but, why don't you go out with him?
      • It is a shot in the dark, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
      • I'll whisper this in case it is too much of a shot in the dark but I believe West Indies will win at least one Test in England.
      • Here again, you should gather as much information as possible instead of taking a shot in the dark.
      • Granted, this is all a bit of a shot in the dark, but there is a third possibility.
      • ‘Lemmie guess’ said Jamie ‘and I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, but are you a cheerleader?’
      • Liz thought he was vaguely familiar and took a stab in the dark where she had seen him from.
      • So it is really just a stab in the dark sometimes from the Met Office.
      • A bit of a shot in the dark this one, but you never know…
      • But, I'd bet everyone here at Pro Football Weekly and any self-respecting football writer at any other worthy publication hopefully knows predictions are a shot in the dark.
      • I took a stab in the dark: probably Belinda, from the description Attila'd given me.
      • Those were all questions that Airen couldn't rightly answer without guessing or taking a stab in the dark, but at least Airen tried.
      • Banning smoking in bars and restaurants is unprecedented, so in many ways it's a shot in the dark.
      • The Oxford Declaration was not a shot in the dark or an isolated incident.
      • Everything else is guess-work: a stab in the dark.
      • She knew it was a shot in the dark, and Nic probably figured that the conversation was heading that way.
      Synonyms
      guess, random guess, wild guess, surmise, supposition, conjecture, speculation, theorizing

Derivatives

  • darkish

  • adjective ˈdɑːkɪʃˈdɑrkɪʃ
    • The suspect was in a dark short-sleeved shirt, darkish trousers, dark baseball cap with white motif on the front.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Many of these works conceal a subtle trace of humour, sometimes a bit darkish.
      • Its underparts were pale, and the upper parts were a darkish, flat blue.
      • It's a darkish area, so it needs to be lit up like fireworks.
      • His hair, darkish brown fading to grey, flies upwards in tufts.
      • It does not matter that many of them have darkish complexions and names like Pepe.
  • darksome

  • adjective ˈdɑːksəmˈdɑrksəm
    literary
    • Dark or gloomy.

      a darksome, stormy abyss
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Love is like to when rere-mice, too early flush'd by a cat out of a darksome, noisome cave, behold the sun in all its noon glory.
      • Bad souls they consign to a darksome, stormy abyss, full of punishments that know no end.
      • I am referring to holy scripture, which seemed darksome because it was not understood… So I sent these lamps to enlighten blind and dense understandings.

Origin

Old English deorc, of Germanic origin, probably distantly related to German tarnen 'conceal'.

  • The origins of dark are mysterious, although it may be related to German tarnen ‘to conceal’. Ideas of secrecy and mystery are behind such phrases as to keep someone in the dark and a dark secret. Also mysterious is the Dark Lady, the anonymous woman to whom Shakespeare dedicated a number of his sonnets. Although there have been various suggestions as to who she was, the lady has never been certainly identified. A dark night of the soul is a period of great depression or soul-searching. The phrase was used by F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, in 1936: ‘In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning.’ It originated in the title of a poem by the Spanish mystic and poet St John of the Cross (1542–91), Noche oscura, ‘Dark Night’, which was rendered by a Victorian translator as ‘Dark Night of the Soul’. One of the most famous opening lines in literature is ‘It was a dark and stormy night’, which begins Paul Clifford (1830) by the British novelist and politician Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Today his name is a byword for bad writing, and there is an annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for bad writing in the USA, but in his lifetime he was a successful writer who also became a reforming MP.

Rhymes

arc, ark, Bach, bark, barque, Braque, Clark, clerk, embark, hark, impark, Iraq, Ladakh, Lamarck, lark, macaque, marc, mark, marque, narc, nark, Newark, park, quark, sark, shark, snark, spark, stark, Vlach
 
 

Definition of dark in US English:

dark

adjectivedärkdɑrk
  • 1With little or no light.

    it's too dark to see much
    Example sentencesExamples
    • A man was dragged into a dark car park in Southend town centre and robbed at knifepoint by two thugs.
    • The room was almost completely dark, and no sounds could be heard throughout the entire house.
    • Install exterior lights that automatically come on when it gets dark and go off when it's light.
    • Oranjestad harbor is well lit if it gets dark before you get there.
    • It had been a beautiful, sunny day but even with the extra hour of evening daylight it was getting very dark as we pulled out of Boston onto the Louth road.
    • When it gets dark the canaries stop singing but at dawn they start again and wake up the guards.
    • It grew dark, and Burginde pulled open the tarpaulin flap to speak to the drover.
    • It was just getting dark when he pulled into the parking lot of the Honey Biscuit Hotel and Restaurant.
    • The edges are darkened and distressed as if they were rescued from a box of letters kept in a dark attic.
    • When it gets dark outside, it invariably gets dark inside too.
    • The room was very dark and the only sound was the almost melodical, yet nasal beep of the heart monitor.
    • I've always been like a cave-woman - awake when it's light and asleep as soon as it gets dark.
    • Deacon flipped on his bright headlights as he pulled onto a dark and vacant road.
    • The room suddenly went dark as the King pulled heavy curtains across the light from the window.
    • Where I live, when it gets dark, it is rare for people to go outside unless they are going to buy something!
    • Do what you have to do early, when it gets dark go to bed then wake up early and complete your homework.
    • Ethan then finally pulled into a dark alley way between a closed restaurant and crafts store.
    • Meanwhile I get things organized around the apartment in case we're without power when it gets dark.
    • The room was dark because he pulled the shades on his windows down before he left in the morning.
    • I have come to the creek, she said, to shine my flashlight on the animals in the water when it gets dark.
    Synonyms
    black, pitch-black, pitch-dark, inky, jet-black, unlit, unlighted, unilluminated, ill-lit, poorly lit
    1. 1.1 (of a theater) closed; not in use.
      on Tuesdays he'd wait tables because the theater was dark
      Example sentencesExamples
      • The theatre I worked in before this was being refurbished over the summer, and so the dark period was extended.
      • There is no longer a show, the theatre is dark, and The Mirage ironically lives up to its name.
      • As long as they keep the theaters dark teenagers will attend movies. [Reply to this comment]
      • Because the theatre's dark, it does odd things to the Front of House dept's shifts.
      • The theatre's dark today, which is just as well because the police have just cordoned off the top of Roseberry Avenue with red tape.
  • 2(of a color or object) not reflecting much light; approaching black in shade.

    dark green
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Shades of dark green, blue and red designs and grand borders are popular designs on a saree.
    • She had done the base coat of black, and was overlapping it with sponged on dark purple.
    • The sky was now a dark purple rather than the black it had been when they first arrived in the graveyard.
    • The glass front of the store was painted black with slashes of dark colours running though it.
    • The loss of light also meant that this house was associated with black or very dark colours.
    • Washing is done each day with a light coloured load alternating with a load of dark colours.
    • All shades of purple were displayed in dark hues, mauves, lilacs and magentas.
    • His carpet was a dark shade of green that almost looked black, and his walls were off-white.
    • Nose, ears, and feet are covered with dark sepia hairs and the tail hairs are almost black.
    • The clouds took on a fiery orange hue and the few open patches that led to the blue sky were a dark purple.
    • Members of the Royal Family and their households will wear dark colours and black ties.
    • Tea is no longer just about a cup of dark jasmine tea, served so sweet that it makes your teeth ache.
    • They power dress in stern, cut suits, usually in dark colours such as black, grey or navy.
    • Her pelt was a dark tan with lighter streaks around the ribs and on the stomach.
    • The man was wearing a navy jumper, light blue shirt, dark blue jacket, grey or black trousers and black shoes.
    • He was wearing a black jacket with white reflection marks, dark blue jeans and trainers.
    • Thin dark green carpets covered the area, contrasting faintly with the dark colour of the wood.
    • He was wearing a dark coloured baseball cap, dark jacket and blue jeans.
    • They wear light blue shirts, dark pants and these black arm badges with IP written on them and the flag.
    • He was wearing a black peaked cap, dark leather jacket, light coloured trousers.
    1. 2.1 (of someone's skin, hair, or eyes) brown or black in color.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • His tall and gaunt framed, combined with his dark eyes and black hair, made him distrusted.
      • To Ciara, she looked like an angel with brown skin, brown eyes and dark hair.
      • He had jet black hair and his dark brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of silver frames.
      • The dark-haired beauty pulled off her sunglasses, twirling them in her right thumb and index finger.
      • He had blondish brown hair, dark eyes and was chubby, not fat, but chubby.
      • She pulled her dark wavy curls out of her face and anchored her thin frame against Zeeks's side.
      • He is a tall Scotsman with dark curly hair, beautiful dark eyes and is almost too handsome.
      • He was in his teens from what I saw; he had black hair, dark skin, and deep brown eyes.
      • She had long brown hair and dark eyes, and Jim really had to work to keep up with her on the slopes.
      • Behind her stood a guy of about twenty-two with sandy brown hair and dark eyes.
      • She was about an inch shorter than me, with long black hair, dark eyes, and a sardonic smirk.
      • She was clearly beautiful, with a slightly dusky skin tone, curly black hair and dark eyes.
      • She had short dark hair and matching dark eyes and wore black pants with a red tank top under her apron.
      • The dark skinned woman pulled up her sleeve and revealed two scars running up her left wrist.
      • He was tattooed all over, and had an untidy mane of black hair and flashing dark eyes.
      • Tall, dark brown hair, very dark eyes that put you on the spot and black clothes.
      • Another had an abundance of frizzy dark hair, dark eyes and olive skin, she was the shortest of them all.
      • He was a tall, with black hair and dark eyes; also an athlete, he was quite a tennis player.
      • He gave a quick and hesitant smile, and his wavy brown hair covered his dark eyes.
      • She was a real beauty with black hair and dark eyes, almost the looks of a gypsy.
      Synonyms
      brunette, dark brown, auburn, tawny, copper-coloured, coppery, chestnut, chestnut-coloured, jet-black, sable, ebony
      swarthy, sallow, olive, dusky, black, ebony
    2. 2.2 (of a person) having dark skin, hair, or eyes.
      both my father and I are very dark
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Physically he was dark, bearded, grey eyed and just under medium height.
      • They were dark, their skin a yellowish brown and their hair black.
      • A tall, dark man arrived breathlessly, and looked at me with bright eyes.
      • The girl was dark and bad looking enough for him to know what kind of thing she had abandoned him to do.
      • If a daughter is too dark skinned she may not be able to find a good husband.
      • He was a tall, lean, dark man with an ebullient waxed moustache; around his head he wrapped a woolly muffler.
      • I was a bit lost in my identity because Mum's got red hair and Dad's quite dark.
      • Have you got short dark hair?
      • I was the only dark kid in the class and I couldn't play the same Anglo characters as everybody else could.
      • He will be a very dark man, with jet black hair cut very short and he may have an arm band tattoo.
      • The dark girl was an enigma that Nicola knew nothing about, and therefore she intrigued her.
      • He closes his eyes then opens them to see the dark girl walking out the door.
      • She was a dark girl with almost perfect features and huge, smouldering eyes.
      • There was one man who, though he was dark, had the most incredible eyes of gold.
      • Almost instantly Rebecca and her stopped screaming and stared at the dark girl.
      • Then it is the turn of a tall dark girl with a Russian name, who glowers at me and says.
      • A dark-complexioned girl is engaged to be married to a dark man much older than her.
      • She was dark and exotic and not at all like the other girls in school, but destiny intervened.
      • Why do we have dark people where there's a lot of sun, and light people where there's less sun.
      • The people are dark skinned, their faces pinched, their bodies hunched as though perpetually cold.
    3. 2.3 Served or drunk with only a little or no milk or cream.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • This semisweet chocolate bar is 59% cacao, and thus dark enough to give you your share of delectable antioxidants, but not so dark that you pucker at the chalkiness.
      • Allegedly, he was very fond of this rich, dark dessert.
  • 3(of a period of time or situation) characterized by tragedy, unhappiness, or unpleasantness.

    the dark days of the war
    Example sentencesExamples
    • Italy have suffered a dark period since losing the final of Euro 2000 but are emerging again into the light.
    • It was a dark period for Szymanowski, during which he was quite unable to believe in himself as a composer.
    • Clyde Prestowitz told Alison Caldwell that it was a dark day for the World Trade Organisation.
    • With the departure of Lee Bowyer, Leeds are also attempting to draw a line under a dark period in their history.
    • It is hoped this will now be the end of a dark period in South African rugby.
    • It was during the dark days of the BSE crisis that inspired the local man to adapt and diversify to save his future as a farmer.
    • Something about film noir seems to go hand in hand with this dark period of America's history.
    • The three decades of Nicholas's rule came to be regarded as a particularly dark period of Russian history.
    • At the beginning of this campaign I said that this is a dark period for the union, but we would come through it and the union would be stronger.
    • High school, where he was graded for the first time, was a dark period.
    • Only a few months ago they prophesied the advent of a new dark age.
    • When I wrote it I was going through a very dark period of my life, a kind of hiatus if you like.
    • We don't have another play lined up but we've had dark periods before where we've had a lull between productions.
    • We've been through a lot together, through dark days and nights and seasons of hope and joy.
    • The dark period of India's history needs to addressed with grave concern and in its proper perspective.
    • The period has often been pictured as a dark era full of persecutions of the Christian peoples.
    • In college I went through a dark period, a time when I felt so alone I was sure I would break.
    • It was a good thing for me to get out of town but it was all a very dark period for me that I then wrote about in Force Majeure.
    • It also draws a neat line under a dark period of his life, which saw him reeling from the deaths of his parents within six months of each other.
    • They would not have continued to resist through all the dark days of 1940 and 1941 when Britain stood alone.
    Synonyms
    tragic, disastrous, calamitous, catastrophic, cataclysmic, ruinous, devastating
    1. 3.1 Gloomily pessimistic.
      a dark vision of the future
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Drawing inspiration from pulp fiction, it presents a dark tale of love, sex, violence and loss.
      • A folky lament on death and love, it never sounds as dark as its lyrics intend because of tremendous harmonies.
      • Your new book Dr Sweet… is a dark comedy - what is your favourite comedy film or tv series?
      • Saw a Kurosawa movie after a long time. A very dark retelling of an anyway dark Shakespeare drama.
      • If you've never seen the film and have a taste for esoteric dark comedies, give this one a spin.
      • The forest itself is a dark terror of sound and half-seen images.
      • Miller's dark body of work always exposed the American dream as a nightmare.
      • Both films also have fairly dark moments, yet still leave you feeling uplifted at the end, and even during some of the darkest parts.
      • Marie also expressed her emotions through dark and disturbing poetry and writings.
      Synonyms
      gloomy, dismal, pessimistic, negative, defeatist, downbeat, gloom-ridden, cynical, bleak, grim, fatalistic, black, sombre, drab, dreary
    2. 3.2 (of an expression) angry; threatening.
      Matthew flashed a dark look at her
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Dark brown hair covered her large eyes, hiding the dark expression in her eyes.
      • Ezmo looked shocked for a moment, and then his brow drew together in a dark, brooding frown.
      • They were in a deep discussion, with dark, disapproving expressions on their face.
      • Chris licked his lips and stared up at me with a serious dark expression.
      • An irritated glare adorned his otherwise striking face, dark and morose and very, very angry.
      • Dark red, the kind that pricks behind your ears when you get angry, the kind that feels like dark rage, tastes of thick metal.
      • It was an intemperate outburst, but even as he stamped out of the room with a dark glower, his inquisitors were breaking into smiles.
      • Allison shivered at his words and noticed the dark expressions of her two other companions.
      • With an expression to rival the dark mood, the Employer marched over to the black chair in a rage.
      • The dark expression left his face and a trace of coolness lit up in his gray eyes.
      • The man had sharp blue eyes and a dark expression on his face as he crossed the space between them.
      • Yellow eyes glowing vengefully, his expression was hooded, dark and menacing.
      • He wasn't scowling or had a dark masked expression on his face anymore, he was quiet.
      • He didn't say anything, a dark expression on his face as he watched his brother.
      • Brian caught his wrist a hair's breadth away from her cheek with a dark expression.
      • Arin asked, unaware of how dark her expression had gotten just by asking that much.
      • The girls attained dark expressions and each of them started growling slightly.
      • He had deep wrinkles in his face and his dark, angry eyes were hidden under thick eyebrows.
      • His voice was dark and angry, and filled with an everlasting promise of revenge.
      • The prince scowled and took on a dark expression that Merlin had not seen before on the cordial coyote.
      Synonyms
      moody, brooding, sullen, dour, glum, morose, sulky, frowning, scowling, glowering, angry, forbidding, threatening, ominous
    3. 3.3 Suggestive of or arising from evil characteristics or forces; sinister.
      so many dark deeds had been committed
      Example sentencesExamples
      • It is in fact the dark evil of laziness and ignorance disguised as an altruistic urge and that is why you rightly feel anxious!
      • There were dark and sinister things in the Dalewoodian nights, things left to fable and myth.
      • She too is evil, dark and wicked and she too will pay the price if she does die.
      • Those who chose the latter started connecting the owl to dark forces, evil forces, and death.
      • For some time now, taking hormone replacement therapy has been almost synonymous with embracing the dark forces of evil.
      • The moor evolves from geological hazard into a metaphor for dark thoughts and evil deeds.
      • The deal was that Sishera would become a woman that served under the dark power.
      • Seduction Cinema serves this dark tale of supernatural seduction on a silver platter.
      • Is there something dark and sinister about this clown that we can never really understand?
      • How do I address people who feel that the Harry Potter films are too dark and filled with evil and magic and need to be burned?
      • There are those, however, who suggest dark forces have been at work.
      • The dog turned around to face the man and growled deep in his throat, a dark sinister sound.
      • However, guides still relate stories of the palace's dark deeds with a certain grisly humour.
      • Shadow magic was evil magic it was dark and could do things normal magic could not.
      • I find it difficult to believe that he could just switch allegiances as easily as that, there must be a dark sinister plot.
      • A movie which is about dark power and evil, it uses the most powerful of Indian myths to its advantage.
      • Now he was taking a more proactive stance in his fight against evil and the dark forces.
      • The most basic statement of the tradition is that there is a double mystery, the dark mystery of evil and the bright mystery of goodness.
      • The white light is a spell that will over come the dark forces of evil and destroy it.
      • Why is the access to the woods, which is full of dark evil, located behind the school?
      Synonyms
      evil, wicked, sinful, immoral, wrong, morally wrong, wrongful, bad, iniquitous
  • 4Hidden from knowledge; mysterious.

    a dark secret
    Example sentencesExamples
    • She had dark hair with dark eyes, and a dark personality, hence her code name.
    • Various forms of paganism offer us ‘deep and dark knowledge’ - but it is all confusion.
    • But her latest book, The Wish House is a return to her first love: the scare story, the tale of dark secrets.
    • But his power and wealth hide a dark secret, which when revealed brings his world tumbling down around him.
    • All three protagonists try to piece the clues together in order to unveil the dark mysteries at work.
    • The play, which looks at first as if it might be just cute and entertaining, soon begins to hint at dark secrets.
    • She would not look away from it, she would not look into the dark depths of the Prince's eyes.
    • But dolphins have a dark secret - their nasty habit of ganging up on porpoises and headbutting them to death.
    • It sounds more or less exactly as you would expect it to sound, i.e. dark, brooding, melodic and quite lovely.
    • She's going to share a dark secret that could help others who've gone through the same ordeal.
    • He seldom smiles; he gave this interview because he wants to purge himself of his deep and dark secrets.
    • And like Senay, the audience also learn in due course that Okwe has some dark secrets of his own.
    • Directed by Norman Alexander, the show is a British farce of a dark murder mystery.
    • It's time to probe once again into the deep, dark recesses of the criminal mind.
    • The two become entangled in conversation, revealing deep, dark secrets about themselves.
    • I pushed the memory of my dad to the back of my head, as far as it would go into the dark depths of the past.
    • The bright facades of present-day Willemstad conceal the dark secrets of offshore finance.
    • Mothers and pushchairs crowd the OK Laundrette, beside the dark mysteries of the Wizard Tattoo Shop.
    • A limerick novelist has just launched her second novel, a tale of a bored housewife with a dark secret.
    • So prayer comes from these mysterious, deep, dark places, and where does prayer go to?
    • But she was hiding a dreadful, dark secret - one that she felt she could not share, not even with her family.
    • But the pirates have a dark secret of their own, since they have been cursed after stealing a bewitched pile of treasure.
    • What dark secrets are going to be uncovered about El Presidente by 2030?
    • I didn't know if he'd still want to see me if he knew my dark secret and I resolved not to tell him.
    Synonyms
    mysterious, secret, hidden, concealed, veiled, unrevealed, covert, clandestine
    1. 4.1archaic Ignorant; unenlightened.
      he is dark on certain points of scripture
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Science, they say, leading mankind to progress, peace, and tranquility, safeguards bright minds from dark, ignorant times.
      • To some people he is a small light of truth in a wilderness of dark ignorance. What he is you will have to decide for your self.
      • I'm not just defending the Wii, I'm defending all gaming consoles from ignorant people. Now here's where you can either remain in your dark ignorant state, or give in to the truth.
      • While Christianity claims to have gradually lifted humanity out of dark ignorance of a dark pre-Christian world, the truth is opposite.
  • 5Phonetics
    Denoting a velarized form of the sound of the letter l as it sounds at the end of a word or before another consonant (as in full or bulk in most accents of English).

    Often contrasted with clear
    Example sentencesExamples
    • English has two allophones for /l/, "light/clearl" and "darkl". I am conducting a study on the distribution of these two allophones.
    • Since L Vocalization is stigmatized, people "moving up" to RP often do not hear the difference between dark L and vocalized L (o), and so substitute light L instead of their vocalized L in words such as pill, milk people.
    • The /l/ sound that appears at the ends of words (actually, in coda position of syllables) is referred to as ‘dark /l/’ and is transcribed as /l with a squiggle.
    • In the recording out of the nine opportunities for Janet to use the dark /l/, each time she used clear /l/ just as Dublin speakers do.
    • To pronounce the dark 'l' in girl or world, unroll the tongue and press the tip up against the alveolar ridge just behind the teeth.
noundärkdɑrk
  • 1the darkThe absence of light in a place.

    Carolyn was sitting in the dark
    he's scared of the dark
    Example sentencesExamples
    • She was trying to find her way to the loo in the dark, and she just sort of crashed into it.
    • Alex ground her teeth and sat up, swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there glaring at him in the dark.
    • Parents in Oldham are now being urged to be on their guard and not let their children out alone in the dark.
    • We skied for too long, missed the train down and were forced to trudge to the top of a mountain in the dark.
    • I did not like having to park my car in the dark, with all the crime I hear about at the hospital.
    • She would often find Arthur sitting alone somewhere in the dark for that was what he often did now.
    • There are signs on the opposite side to the disabled bays but I didn't see them in the dark.
    • It is thought that Rowan ran through fencing in the dark and slithered into the ditch.
    • Seeds were placed on moist filter paper in Petri dishes in the dark to germinate.
    • He's had a nightlight for a few months now - we gave in to his growing unease of being in the dark.
    • I sat, in the dark, for all I knew I was in a very lit room but all I could see was darkness.
    • She was surprised that the man didn't even stumble on the thick underbrush in the dark.
    • One night some kids came past in the dark and on bikes and nearly knocked me over.
    • That scene pops into my head every time I have to get into my car on a foggy winter morning in the dark.
    • Maybe you drive with no lights in the dark in case you shine them on somebody coming the other way.
    • Plants at the flowering stage were placed in the dark for one night before each experiment.
    • I went outside and found Ross sitting in the dark, the sound of crickets was all around.
    • It is hard to give the benefit of any doubt to someone who dressed in the dark.
    • It was quite normal to go into someone's study and find two people sitting on a bed together in the dark.
    • They were both special forces pilots, an elite who knew how to fly low, fast and in the dark.
    Synonyms
    darkness, blackness, absence of light, gloom, gloominess, dimness, dullness, murk, murkiness, shadowiness, shadow, shade, shadiness, dusk, twilight, gloaming
    1. 1.1 Nightfall.
      I'll be home before dark
      Example sentencesExamples
      • Working from dawn until dark can become the breeding ground toward poor health in both mind and body.
      • That eerie morning dark only exists on rainy mornings with the curtains drawn.
      • In morning dark, Bradson was woken by the mosque singer, as he had been each morning he had been in this Sasak village.
      • This pyrotechnical extension to the Great Wall glowed eerily under dark of night as the fire climbed up and over dunes.
      Synonyms
      night, night-time, darkness, hours of darkness
  • 2A dark color or shade, especially in a painting.

    Example sentencesExamples
    • Contrast between lights and darks was a bit fuzzy, not doing justice to the fine cinematography.
    • Tucked away in an unassuming room at the Ferens Art Gallery, the 19th century landscape is without doubt the work of a master, the lights and darks interwoven to weave a moving tapestry in oils.
    • Before I sliced my thumb I was working on a grandly chiaroscuro-ed subject, of an alleyway in London, seeking to get the rich darks and the lucid lights I am coming to think of as my favourite subject and my ultimate challenge.
    • Rather than dwelling in Hopper's creepy shadows, Turner contrasts his darks with halos of golden sunlight.
    • Lights and darks are evenly blended with edge enhancement and grain kept to the bare minimum.
    • Lights and darks, reflections and shadows as found on the surface of moving bodies of water, are the subjects of Elyn Zimmerman's large scale, black-and-white drawings.
    • Turning his attention to his more immediate surroundings, White found that he was seated on a very soft fur skin of some sort - a dappled pattern of lights and darks.
    • Essentially these qualities were a roughness and variety of texture, and an intricacy of forms, combined with darks and lights bringing them to life.
    • The drawings are strong examples of a dramatic technique, and they encourage the viewer to look beyond the subject to the artistic play of lights and darks and the compositional design of the picture plane.
    • In using the work of Caravaggio, I show how he, in his Baroque manner, used diagonals and foreshortening to bring viewers into the picture plane and engaged us visually by leading us in and around the lights and darks.
    • Kehoe's broad brushstrokes reduce the surfaces and modeling of her subjects to angular planes of lights and darks.
    • The triangles of fabric are set in an over all pattern with the lights and darks playing against each other to show the prints to best advantage.
    • My uncle turns, glances at me, the sun from behind the clouds casting lights and darks across his lean face - sharp cheekbones, high forehead.
    • Full of jagged darks, glaring lights and Joan gun-toting in furs, this movie is the pinnacle of what the kids are calling ‘lady-noir’.
    • This is the explanation for the pattern of underpainting in simple areas of pure tone, pure lights and darks.
    • The contrast between darks and lights is so spectacular that you can actually differentiate how Buddy's five o'clock shadow changes between the old and new scenes.
    • Squint your eyes and see the landscape as a series of shapes, lights and darks, as opposed to seeing every detail.
    • Using basic unmixed colors, right next to higher contrasting colors, Kinley adequately communicates darks and lights.
    • His great assets are originality of approach and a sure, often dramatic, control of lights and darks.
    • Brian sees the world in black and white, and Caravaggio painted in lights and darks.
    Synonyms
    darkness, blackness, absence of light, gloom, gloominess, dimness, dullness, murk, murkiness, shadowiness, shadow, shade, shadiness, dusk, twilight, gloaming

Phrases

  • the darkest hour is just before the dawn

    • proverb When things seem to be at their worst they are about to start improving.

      Example sentencesExamples
      • My theme was that the darkest hour is just before the dawn, and though it does seem to be the darkest hour, we have to have some Resurrection hope and keep learning from our partners and walking forwards.
      • They say that the darkest hour is just before the dawn and in this case it is true.
      • She understood that the harshest suffering precedes the redemption, that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
      • So take heart, the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
      • Remember that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
  • in the dark

    • In a state of ignorance about something.

      we're clearly being kept in the dark about what's happening
      Example sentencesExamples
      • It also provides a handy pointer to The Camel-Toe Report for anyone still in the dark.
      • Both Mr Scholar and Mr Markham had the sense that they were being kept in the dark.
      • The vast majority of health workers have been left completely in the dark about what is on offer.
      • Naturally, no more did appear and the American public has been kept in the dark ever since.
      • They are a bit in the dark and they are a bit worried about what that information might be.
      • The reader is not allowed to be in the dark as to why Indonesia became so important, for instance.
      • Union officials have been critical of company bosses for keeping staff in the dark.
      • I'm in the dark about many of the scientific facts and I would like to know a lot more.
      • I would not exactly call him a liar for keeping us all in the dark about his plans.
      • By the fourth I was utterly alone and totally in the dark about where I was, so to speak.
      • So, do you know someone being kept in the dark because they cannot see the printed word?
      • The defender claimed he took the decision to keep his gaffer in the dark for all the right reasons.
      • Keeping them in the dark, even as a way of protecting them, only fuels their fears.
      • As to anything concrete about the decade unfolding he's as much in the dark as the rest of us.
      • It goes on to claim that many companies are still in the dark about the changes.
      • It was so much easier then for people in power to influence what we got to know and what we were kept in the dark about.
      • The public may not be entirely in the know, but it isn't entirely in the dark, either.
      • She claimed the working group had been kept in the dark about much of the planning for the event.
      • For how much longer will the people of Bedford put up with being kept in the dark?
      • Northern Spirit made a bad situation much worse by keeping passengers in the dark.
      Synonyms
      unaware of, ignorant of, in ignorance of, oblivious to, uninformed about, unenlightened about, unacquainted with, unconversant with
  • keep something dark

    • Keep something secret from other people.

      I asked Ann to keep my identity dark
  • a shot (or stab) in the dark

    • An act whose outcome cannot be foreseen; a mere guess.

      Example sentencesExamples
      • I took a stab in the dark: probably Belinda, from the description Attila'd given me.
      • ‘Lemmie guess’ said Jamie ‘and I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, but are you a cheerleader?’
      • Liz thought he was vaguely familiar and took a stab in the dark where she had seen him from.
      • Even if you are truly ambitious, it's a mistake to apply for jobs which are too much of a shot in the dark.
      • She knew it was a shot in the dark, and Nic probably figured that the conversation was heading that way.
      • But, I'd bet everyone here at Pro Football Weekly and any self-respecting football writer at any other worthy publication hopefully knows predictions are a shot in the dark.
      • Here again, you should gather as much information as possible instead of taking a shot in the dark.
      • If it was a shot in the dark, it was uncannily accurate: there are many common Irish names, most of which would come more readily to the tongue.
      • Just a shot in the dark really, I didn't expect it to work…
      • So it is really just a stab in the dark sometimes from the Met Office.
      • Granted, this is all a bit of a shot in the dark, but there is a third possibility.
      • Everything else is guess-work: a stab in the dark.
      • Banning smoking in bars and restaurants is unprecedented, so in many ways it's a shot in the dark.
      • Those were all questions that Airen couldn't rightly answer without guessing or taking a stab in the dark, but at least Airen tried.
      • This may be a shot in the dark, but to me I see the emerging trend and I see it in one capitalist icon; Wal-Mart.
      • I'll whisper this in case it is too much of a shot in the dark but I believe West Indies will win at least one Test in England.
      • A bit of a shot in the dark this one, but you never know…
      • It is a shot in the dark, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
      • I know this is a shot in the dark, but, why don't you go out with him?
      • The Oxford Declaration was not a shot in the dark or an isolated incident.
      Synonyms
      guess, random guess, wild guess, surmise, supposition, conjecture, speculation, theorizing

Origin

Old English deorc, of Germanic origin, probably distantly related to German tarnen ‘conceal’.

 
 
随便看

 

英语词典包含464360条英英释义在线翻译词条,基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法,是英语学习的有利工具。

 

Copyright © 2004-2022 Newdu.com All Rights Reserved
更新时间:2024/9/21 12:39:03