- 1 with no or very little light, especially because it is night a dark room/street/forest What time does it get dark in summer? It was dark outside and I couldn't see much. opposite light Oxford Collocations Dictionary verbsbe, look, seem, … adverbextremely, fairly, very, … See full entry See related entries: Sky colours
- 2 not light; closer in shade to black than to white dark blue/green/red, etc. Darker colours are more practical and don't show stains. opposite light, pale
- 3 having a colour that is close to black a dark suit dark-coloured wood The dark clouds in the sky meant that a storm was coming. hair/skin/eyes
- 4 brown or black in colour Sue has long dark hair. He was handsome with dark eyes. Even if you have dark skin, you still need protection from the sun. See related entries: Hair colour, Skin
- 5 (of a person) having dark hair, eyes, etc. a dark handsome stranger opposite fair mysterious
- 6 mysterious; hidden and not known about There are no dark secrets in our family. evil
- 7evil or frightening There was a darker side to his nature. the dark forces of the imagination without hope
- 8unpleasant and without any hope that something good will happen the darkest days of Fascism The film is a dark vision of the future. phonetics
- 9 (of a speech sound) produced with the back part of the tongue close to the back of the mouth. In many accents of English, dark /l/ is used after a vowel, as in ball. opposite clear Word OriginOld English deorc, of Germanic origin, probably distantly related to German tarnen ‘conceal’. Wordfinderblondeauburn, blonde, dark, fair, ginger, grey, jet black, mousy, redhead, sandyExtra examples As it grew dark, they gathered round the fire. It gets dark at about six o’clock. It’s only three o’clock and it’s nearly dark already. Suddenly the whole sky went dark. Darker colours are more practical and don’t show stains. He stumbled along through the dark forest. He was dressed in a dark suit and a plain white shirt. It was dark outside and I couldn’t see much. Mahogany is a dark-coloured wood. My mind was full of dark thoughts. The theatre stayed open even in the darkest days of the war. There are dark forces at work here. They stepped into the dark room and shone the torch.Idioms
- 1(British English) a person who does not tell other people much about their life, and who surprises other people by having interesting qualities
- 2a person taking part in a race, etc. who surprises everyone by winning
adjective jump to other results
BrE BrE//dɑːk//; NAmE NAmE//dɑːrk//
(darker, darkest) Hair colour, Sky, Skin(British English, informal) to keep something secret and not tell people about it He’s got two children? Well he’s kept that dark, hasn’t he!
Check pronunciation: dark
