Synonyms for dark
modified
Lacking brightness
unlighted, unlit, dim, dusky, murky, gloomy, shadowy, somber, cloudy, foggy, sunless, lightless, indistinct, dull, faint, vague, misty, darkish, deep, drab, dingy, obscure, nebulous, shady, shaded, clouded, darkened, overcast, lowering, Cimmerian, opaque, crepuscular, Stygian, without light, tenebrous, bereft of light, ill-lighted, inky, pitch-dark, black, darkling*, darksome*, pitchy*; see also black 1, dull 2, hazy 1.
Antonyms bright*, light, illuminated.
Dismal
gloomy, hopeless, cheerless, sullen; see dismal 1, sullen.
Not known
cryptic, hidden, mysterious; see obscure 3, secret 1.
Lacking light for the future
sinister, foreboding, unpropitious; see ominous.
Dark in complexion
brunet, brunette, swarthy, tan, black, Negro, Negroid, dusky, sable, dark-skinned, dark-haired, dark-complexioned, nonwhite, colored, Indian, melanous; see also African 2, black 3.
Ignorant
unenlightened, unread, uncultivated; see ignorant 2.
Evil
sinister, iniquitous, immoral, corrupt; see wicked 1.
dark, the general word in this comparison, denotes a partial or complete absence of light a dark night; dim implies so little light that objects can be seen only indistinctly dim shapes in the shadows, the dim light of the moon; dusky suggests the grayish, shadowy light of twilight a dusky winter evening; murky now usually suggests the thick, heavy darkness of fog or smoke-filled air the murky ruins of a temple; gloomy suggests a cloudy, cheerless darkness a gloomy forest
See dark in American Heritage Dictionary 4 Synonyms
dark dim murky dusky obscure opaque shady shadowy
These adjectives indicate the absence of light or clarity. Dark, the most widely applicable, can refer to insufficiency of illumination for seeing (a dark evening), deepness of shade or color (dark brown), absence of cheer (a dark, somber mood), or lack of rectitude (a dark past). Dim suggests lack of clarity of outline: “life and the memory of it cramped,/dim, on a piece of Bristol board” (Elizabeth Bishop).
It can also apply to a source of light to indicate insufficiency: “storied Windows richly dight,/Casting a dim religious light” (John Milton).
Murky implies darkness, often extreme, such as that produced by smoke or fog: “The path was altogether indiscernible in the murky darkness which surrounded them” (Sir Walter Scott).
Dusky suggests the dimness that is characteristic of diminishing light, as at twilight: “The dusky night rides down the sky,/And ushers in the morn” (Henry Fielding).
Also, it often refers to deepness of shade of a color: “A dusky blush rose to her cheek” (Edith Wharton).
Obscure usually means unclear to the mind or senses, but it can refer to physical darkness: the obscure rooms of a shuttered mansion.
Opaque means incapable of being penetrated by light: an opaque window shade
; figuratively it applies to something that is unintelligible: opaque philosophical arguments.
Shady refers literally to what is sheltered from light, especially sunlight (a shady grove of pines) or figuratively to what is of questionable honesty (shady business deals). Shadowy also implies obstructed light (a shadowy path) but may suggest shifting illumination and indistinctness: “[He] retreated from the limelight to the shadowy fringe of music history” (Charles Sherman).
It can also refer to something that seems to lack substance and is mysterious or sinister: a shadowy figure in a black cape.
See dark in Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus II
adjective
Having little or no light:
black, pitch-dark. See lightDeficient in brightness:
caliginous, dim, dusky, murky, obscure. See lightSomewhat black:
blackish, dusky. See colorsOf a complexion tending toward brown or black:
bistered, black-a-vised, brunet, dusky, swarthy. See colorsDark and depressing:
black, bleak, blue, cheerless, desolate, dismal, dreary, gloomy, glum, joyless, somber, tenebrific. See happy, lightCharacterized by or expressive of a foreboding somberness:
lowery, sullen. See warnMarked by little hopefulness:
dismal, gloomy, pessimistic. See happy, hope
noun
Absence or deficiency of light:
darkness, dimness, duskiness, murkiness, obscureness, obscurity. See light
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