DARKEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does darken mean? 

• DARKEN (verb)
  The verb DARKEN has 3 senses:

1. become dark or darker

2. tarnish or stain

3. make dark or darker

  Familiarity information: DARKEN used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DARKEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they darken    ... he / she / it darkens   
Past simple: darkened   
Past participle: darkened   
-ing form: darkening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become dark or darker

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The sky darkened

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

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "darken"):

dusk (become dusk)

black out; blacken out (darken completely)

cloud over; cloud up; overcloud (become covered with clouds)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Antonym:

lighten (become lighter)

Derivation:

darkening (changing to a darker color)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tarnish or stain

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

a scandal that darkened the family's good name

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

defile; maculate; stain; sully; tarnish (make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make dark or darker

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

darken a room

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

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

darken (become dark or darker)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "darken"):

embrown (cause to darken)

murk (make dark, dim, or gloomy)

dun (make a dun color)

blind; dim (make dim by comparison or conceal)

dim (make dim or lusterless)

bedim; benight (make darker and difficult to perceive by sight)

shade; shade off; shadow (cast a shadow over)

cloud; overcast (make overcast or cloudy)

Sentence frames:

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

Antonym:

brighten (make more cheerful through the use of color)

Derivation:

darkening (changing to a darker color)

 Context examples 

Faster than ever river ran towards the sea, it flashes, darkens, and rolls away.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It also reveals many landslides that darkened slopes in the 5-mile surrounding area.

(NASA Mars weathercam helps find big new crater, NASA)

Fancy came out of the darkened room and lured him on, a thing of flaming brightness.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A grayish-red, yellowish or white colored, very toxic, crystalline aromatic amine that darkens when exposed to air and light.

(Benzidine, NCI Thesaurus)

Scientists say it's likely a shallow subsurface flow, with enough water wicking to the surface to explain the darkening.

(NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today's Mars, NASA)

But she would have forgiven me; she would have stuck as close to me as a rope to a block if that woman had never darkened our door.

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

Darkening and fading might result from changes in hydration.

(Recurring Martian Streaks: Flowing Sand, Not Water?, NASA)

As those particles flow toward the Moon, they are deflected to the areas just around the magnetic bubbles, where chemical reactions with the regolith darken the surface.

(NASA Mission Reveals Origins of Moon's 'Sunburn', NASA)

As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together, as though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has imaged the planet Mercury passing in front of the sun, visible as a faint darkening that moves across the face of the sun.

(Mercury passes in front of the Sun, as seen from Mars, NASA)