dark

adjective

• 1with little or no light:it’s too dark to see much
• (of a theatre) closed; not in use: when I came to work here, over half the West End theatres were dark

• 2(of a colour or object) not reflecting much light; approaching black in shade:dark green
• (of someone’s skin, hair, or eyes) brown or black in colour: dark curly hair
• (of a person) having dark skin, hair, or eyes: a tall, dark girl both my father and I are very dark

• 3(of a period or situation) characterized by great unhappiness or unpleasantness:the dark days of the war
• deeply pessimistic:a dark vision of the future
• (of an expression) angry: Matthew flashed a dark look at her
• suggestive of or arising from evil; sinister:so many dark deeds had been committed

• 4hidden from knowledge; mysterious:a dark secret
• (darkest) humorous (of a region) most remote, inaccessible, or uncivilized:he lives somewhere in darkest Essex
• archaic ignorant; unenlightened:he is dark on certain points of scripture

• 5 Phonetics denoting a velarized form of the sound of the letter l (as in pull in south-eastern English speech). Often contrasted with clear.

noun

• 1 (the dark) the absence of light in a place:Carolyn was sitting in the dark
• [mass noun] nightfall:I’ll be home before dark

• 2a dark colour or shade, especially in a painting: lights and darks are juxtaposed arbitrarily to create a sense of shallow relief