DARKNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does darkness mean? 

• DARKNESS (noun)
  The noun DARKNESS has 6 senses:

1. absence of light or illumination

2. an unilluminated area

3. absence of moral or spiritual values

4. an unenlightened state

5. having a dark or somber color

6. a swarthy complexion

  Familiarity information: DARKNESS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DARKNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Absence of light or illumination

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

dark; darkness

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

illumination (the degree of visibility of your environment)

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

night (darkness)

black; blackness; lightlessness; pitch blackness; total darkness (total absence of light)

blackout; brownout; dimout (darkness resulting from the extinction of lights (as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft))

semidarkness (partial darkness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An unilluminated area

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

dark; darkness; shadow

Context example:

he moved off into the darkness

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

scene (the place where some action occurs)

Derivation:

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Absence of moral or spiritual values

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

dark; darkness; wickedness

Context example:

the powers of darkness

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

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

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

foulness (disgusting wickedness and immorality)

Derivation:

dark (stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An unenlightened state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

dark; darkness

Context example:

his lectures dispelled the darkness

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

unenlightenment (a lack of understanding)

Derivation:

dark (marked by difficulty of style or expression)

dark (lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture)

dark (secret)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Having a dark or somber color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

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

value (relative darkness or lightness of a color)

Antonym:

lightness (having a light color)

Derivation:

dark (brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes))

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

Sense 6

Meaning:

A swarthy complexion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

darkness; duskiness; swarthiness

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

complexion; skin color; skin colour (the coloring of a person's face)

 Context examples 

Based on a 2016 study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists speculated that lava would flow freely in lakes on the starlit side and become hardened on the face of perpetual darkness.

(Lava or Not, Exoplanet 55 Cancri e Likely to have Atmosphere, NASA)

In the meantime it struck twelve, and the spirit disappeared, so that the youth stood in darkness.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It was then very dark, and the scattered lamps made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual radius.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

After an hour or so the light faded away, and they found themselves stumbling along in the darkness.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

This man from outer darkness was evil.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I stood gazing round and wondering where on earth I might be, when I saw some one coming towards me in the darkness.

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

In 1989, most of the northern hemisphere was in darkness and unseen by Voyager.

(Voyager Map Details Neptune's Strange Moon Triton, NASA)

In fact, these lonely worlds, which sit quietly in the darkness of space without any companion planets or even a host sun, might outnumber stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

(Lone Planetary-Mass Object Found in Family of Stars, NASA)

Then, while some broke camp, others harnessed the dogs, and they were under way an hour or so before the darkness fell which gave warning of dawn.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a vague figure huddled up in the darkness.

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