English Dictionary

BLACK

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Black mean? 

BLACK (noun)
  The noun BLACK has 7 senses:

1. the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)play

2. total absence of lightplay

3. British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)play

4. popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928)play

5. a person with African ancestry,play

6. (board games) the darker piecesplay

7. black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning)play

  Familiarity information: BLACK used as a noun is common.


BLACK (adjective)
  The adjective BLACK has 14 senses:

1. being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident lightplay

2. of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African originplay

3. marked by anger or resentment or hostilityplay

4. offering little or no hopeplay

5. stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorableplay

6. (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruinplay

7. (of the face) made black especially as with suffused bloodplay

8. extremely darkplay

9. harshly ironic or sinisterplay

10. (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleadingplay

11. distributed or sold illicitlyplay

12. (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shameplay

13. (of coffee) without cream or sugarplay

14. soiled with dirt or sootplay

  Familiarity information: BLACK used as an adjective is familiar.


BLACK (verb)
  The verb BLACK has 1 sense:

1. make or become blackplay

  Familiarity information: BLACK used as a verb is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


BLACK (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

black; blackness; inkiness

Hypernyms ("black" is a kind of...):

achromatic color; achromatic colour (a color lacking hue; white or grey or black)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "black"):

coal black; ebony; jet black; pitch black; sable; soot black (a very dark black)

Antonym:

white (the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black))

Derivation:

black (make or become black)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Total absence of light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

black; blackness; lightlessness; pitch blackness; total darkness

Context example:

in the black of night

Hypernyms ("black" is a kind of...):

dark; darkness (absence of light or illumination)


Sense 3

Meaning:

British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Black; Joseph Black

Instance hypernyms:

chemist (a scientist who specializes in chemistry)


Sense 4

Meaning:

Popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Black; Shirley Temple; Shirley Temple Black

Instance hypernyms:

actress (a female actor)


Sense 5

Meaning:

A person with African ancestry,

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

African-American; Black; Negro; Negroid

Context example:

Negroid

Hypernyms ("Black" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Black"):

soul brother (a fellow Black man)

picaninny; piccaninny; pickaninny ((ethnic slur) offensive term for a Black child)


Sense 6

Meaning:

(board games) the darker pieces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("black" is a kind of...):

man; piece (game equipment consisting of an object used in playing certain board games)

Domain category:

checkers; draughts (a checkerboard game for two players who each have 12 pieces; the object is to jump over and so capture the opponent's pieces)

chess; chess game (a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king)

Antonym:

white ((board games) the lighter pieces)


Sense 7

Meaning:

Black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

the widow wore black

Hypernyms ("black" is a kind of...):

article of clothing; clothing; habiliment; vesture; wear; wearable (a covering designed to be worn on a person's body)


BLACK (adjective)

 Declension: comparative and superlative 
Comparative: blacker  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Superlative: blackest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

Meaning:

Being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light

Context example:

rich black soil

Also:

dark ((used of color) having a dark hue)

Attribute:

value (relative darkness or lightness of a color)

Antonym:

white (being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all incident light)

Derivation:

blackness (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))


Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African origin

Context example:

a great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization

Similar:

African-American; Afro-American (pertaining to or characteristic of Americans of African ancestry)

colored; coloured; negro (having skin rich in melanin pigments)

Antonym:

white (of or belonging to a racial group having light skin coloration)


Sense 3

Meaning:

Marked by anger or resentment or hostility

Context example:

black words

Similar:

angry (feeling or showing anger)


Sense 4

Meaning:

Offering little or no hope

Synonyms:

black; bleak; dim

Context example:

took a dim view of things

Similar:

hopeless (without hope because there seems to be no possibility of comfort or success)


Sense 5

Meaning:

Stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable

Synonyms:

black; dark; sinister

Context example:

the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him

Similar:

evil (morally bad or wrong)


Sense 6

Meaning:

(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin

Synonyms:

black; calamitous; disastrous; fatal; fateful

Context example:

a fateful error

Similar:

unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)


Sense 7

Meaning:

(of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood

Synonyms:

black; blackened

Context example:

a face black with fury

Similar:

colored; colorful; coloured (having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination)


Sense 8

Meaning:

Extremely dark

Synonyms:

black; pitch-black; pitch-dark

Context example:

it was pitch-dark in the cellar

Similar:

dark (devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black)

Derivation:

blackness (total absence of light)


Sense 9

Meaning:

Harshly ironic or sinister

Synonyms:

black; grim; mordant

Context example:

fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit

Similar:

sarcastic (expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds)


Sense 10

Meaning:

(of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading

Context example:

black propaganda

Similar:

covert (secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed)


Sense 11

Meaning:

Distributed or sold illicitly

Synonyms:

black; black-market; bootleg; contraband; smuggled

Context example:

the black economy pays no taxes

Similar:

illegal (prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules)


Sense 12

Meaning:

(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame

Synonyms:

black; disgraceful; ignominious; inglorious; opprobrious; shameful

Context example:

a shameful display of cowardice

Similar:

dishonorable; dishonourable (lacking honor or integrity; deserving dishonor)


Sense 13

Meaning:

(of coffee) without cream or sugar

Similar:

undiluted (not diluted)

Derivation:

blackness (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))


Sense 14

Meaning:

Soiled with dirt or soot

Synonyms:

black; smutty

Context example:

his shirt was black within an hour

Similar:

dirty; soiled; unclean (soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime)

Derivation:

blackness (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))


BLACK (verb)

 Conjugation: 
Present simple: I / you / we / they black  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation ... he / she / it blacks  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past simple: blacked  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past participle: blacked  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
-ing form: blacking  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

Meaning:

Make or become black

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

black; blacken; melanise; melanize

Context example:

The ceiling blackened

Hypernyms (to "black" is one way to...):

color; colour; discolor; discolour (change color, often in an undesired manner)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

black (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))


 Context examples 


It may be complete, in which the individual can only perceive black, white, or shades or gray, or incomplete, in which the individual has a residual amount of color vision.

(Achromatopsia, NCI Thesaurus)

The coat is usually black or dark gray, but tan and red are also possible.

(Affenpinscher, NCI Thesaurus)

And yet it would be the blackest treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to me.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.

(African American, NCI Thesaurus)

But new research suggests that it might be possible for them to form not around their own sun but instead around a black hole.

(Thousands of Planets Could Be Orbiting around Black Holes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Neutron stars are extremely dense objects formed from the explosion of a star that wasn't massive enough to form a black hole.

(NASA Satellite Spots a Mystery That's Gone in a Flash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The coat should be tan with black (or dark grizzle) markings.

(Airedale Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)

The presence of homogentisic acid in the urine causes its color to turn black.

(Alkaptonuria, NCI Thesaurus)

A mile away there are black spots upon the snow. The black spots move.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

A chronic lung disorder characterized by deposition of coal dust in the lung parenchyma leading to the formation of black nodules and emphysema.

(Anthracosis, NCI Thesaurus)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies." (English proverb)

"Two watermelons can’t be grabbed in one hand." (Afghanistan proverb)

"The sky does not rain gold or silver." (Arabic proverb)

"He who studies does not waste his time." (Corsican proverb)



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