DARKNESS • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Darkness

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/dˈɑrknəs/ Listen

noun

Darkness n.

1.

The absence of light; blackness; obscurity; gloom. "And darkness was upon the face of the deep."

2.

A state of privacy; secrecy. "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light."

3.

A state of ignorance or error, especially on moral or religious subjects; hence, wickedness; impurity. "Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." "Pursue these sons of darkness: drive them out From all heaven's bounds."

4.

Want of clearness or perspicuity; obscurity; as, the darkness of a subject, or of a discussion.

5.

A state of distress or trouble. "A day of clouds and of thick darkness."

Prince of darkness, the Devil; Satan. "In the power of the Prince of darkness."

Synonyms: Darkness, Dimness, Obscurity, Gloom. Darkness arises from a total, and dimness from a partial, want of light. A thing is obscure when so overclouded or covered as not to be easily perceived. As tha shade or obscurity increases, it deepens into gloom. What is dark is hidden from view; what is obscure is difficult to perceive or penetrate; the eye becomes dim with age; an impending storm fills the atmosphere with gloom. When taken figuratively, these words have a like use; as, the darkness of ignorance; dimness of discernment; obscurity of reasoning; gloom of superstition.

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Etymology of 'Darkness'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Darkness" Quotes from Famous Books

... to an account. "Swords," saith the psalmist of such persons, "are in their lips: Who (say they) doth hear?" And, "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off," saith David again, intimating the common manner of this practice. Calumny is like "the plague, that walketh in darkness." Hence appositely are the practisers thereof termed whisperers and backbiters: their heart suffers them not openly to avow, their conscience tells them they cannot ...

— Sermons on Evil-Speaking • Isaac Barrow

... years pass; the old wheel turns and ever the thread runs out. The wise and the good, the noble and the brave, they come from the darkness, and into the darkness they go, whence, whither and why, who may say? Here is the slope of Hindhead. The fern still glows russet in November, the heather still burns red in July; but where now is ...

— Sir Nigel • Arthur Conan Doyle

... the doorway. "I shall never forgive you," she said, and was swallowed by the darkness. "Which does she mean?" asked Iberville, with a touch of irony. ...

— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... and fighting, and when he tried to separate them they made an attack on him. To save his own life he slew them both. Alberich, a mountain dwarf, who had long been guardian of the Nibelung hoard, rushed to avenge his masters; but Siegfried vanquished him and took from him his cap of darkness which made its wearer invisible and gave him the strength of twelve men. The hero then ordered Alberich to place the treasure again in the mountain cave and ...

— Famous Men of The Middle Ages • John H. Haaren, LL.D. and A. B. Poland, Ph.D.

... glooms of the dark tapestried room, but it did serve to illuminate the lines of her own form, as she saw it reflected in the big glass of her wardrobe, straight in front of her. She sat with her hands round her knees, absently looking at herself, a white long-limbed apparition struck out of the darkness. But she was conscious of nothing save one mounting overwhelming passionate desire, almost ...

— Marcella • Mrs. Humphry Ward

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