Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Being of the color black, producing or reflecting comparatively little light and having no predominant hue.
  • adjective Having little or no light.
  • adjective Of or belonging to a racial group having brown to black skin, especially one of African origin.
  • adjective Of or belonging to an American ethnic group descended from African peoples having dark skin; African-American.
  • adjective Very dark in color.
  • adjective Being a trail, as for skiing, marked with a sign having a black diamond, indicating a high level of difficulty.
  • adjective Soiled, as from soot; dirty.
  • adjective Evil; wicked.
  • adjective Cheerless and depressing; gloomy.
  • adjective Being or characterized by morbid or grimly satiric humor.
  • adjective Marked by anger or sullenness.
  • adjective Attended with disaster; calamitous.
  • adjective Deserving of, indicating, or incurring censure or dishonor.
  • adjective Wearing clothing of the darkest visual hue.
  • adjective Served without milk or cream.
  • adjective Appearing to emanate from a source other than the actual point of origin. Used chiefly of intelligence operations.
  • adjective Disclosed, for reasons of security, only to an extremely limited number of authorized persons; very highly classified.
  • adjective Chiefly British Boycotted as part of a labor union action.
  • noun The achromatic color value of minimum lightness or maximum darkness; the color of objects that absorb nearly all light of all visible wavelengths; one extreme of the neutral gray series, the opposite being white. Although strictly a response to zero stimulation of the retina, the perception of black appears to depend on contrast with surrounding color stimuli.
  • noun A pigment or dye having this color value.
  • noun Complete or almost complete absence of light; darkness.
  • noun Clothing of the darkest hue, especially such clothing worn for mourning.
  • noun A member of a racial group having brown to black skin, especially one of African origin.
  • noun An American descended from peoples of African origin having brown to black skin; an African American.
  • noun Something that is colored black.
  • noun The black-colored pieces, as in chess or checkers.
  • noun The player using these pieces.
  • noun The condition of making or operating at a profit.
  • intransitive verb To make black.
  • intransitive verb To apply blacking to.
  • intransitive verb Chiefly British To boycott as part of a labor union action.
  • intransitive verb To become black.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Possessing in the highest degree the property of absorbing light; reflecting and transmitting little or no light; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest possible hue; sable; optically, wholly destitute of color, or absolutely dark, whether from the absence or from the total absorption of light: opposed to white.
  • Hence Characterized by the absence of light; involved or enveloped in darkness.
  • Dismal; gloomy; sullen and forbidding: as, a black prospect.
  • Destitute of moral light or goodness; evil; wicked; atrocious: as, black deeds.
  • Calamitous; disastrous; bringing ruin or desolation: as, black tidings; black Friday.
  • Deadly; malignant; baneful: as, a black augury.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English blak, from Old English blæc; see bhel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English black, blak, from Old English blæc ("black, dark", also "ink"), from Proto-Germanic *blakaz, *blakkaz (“burnt”) (compare Dutch blaken 'to burn', Old High German blah 'black', Old Norse blakkr 'dark', blakra 'to blink'), from Proto-Indo-European *bhleg- (“to burn, shine”) (compare Latin flagare 'to shine', flagrare 'to burn', Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlox) 'flame', Albanian blozë ("soot"), Sanskrit bharga 'radiance'). More at bleach.

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Examples

  • And, a decade later, the "Black Male Initiative" of the City University of New York--the target of another complaint we brought that the Feds have refused to decide much less declare illegal--also vouched for "the data" about the importance of black male role models for black boys.

    Michael Meyers: Schooling Blacks in Segregationist Thinking Michael Meyers 2011

  • And, a decade later, the "Black Male Initiative" of the City University of New York--the target of another complaint we brought that the Feds have refused to decide much less declare illegal--also vouched for "the data" about the importance of black male role models for black boys.

    Michael Meyers: Schooling Blacks in Segregationist Thinking Michael Meyers 2011

  • Black women also get oddly, back-handedly criticized for being too functional -- for being the majority of black college graduates and growing old alone.

    Farai Chideya: How Does It Feel to Be a Black, Female, Single Problem? 2010

  • Black women also get oddly, back-handedly criticized for being too functional -- for being the majority of black college graduates and growing old alone.

    Farai Chideya: How Does It Feel to Be a Black, Female, Single Problem? 2010

  • Black registration is HUGE, but historically black turnout has not matched the registration ratio.

    Zogby: Obama's Lead In North Carolina Shrinks, Indiana A Dead Heat 2009

  • Black Catholics vote just like black non-Catholics.

    Fourth Poll This Week Shows Obama With Solid National Lead 2009

  • Black Catholics vote just like black non-Catholics.

    Poll: Obama Struggling With Older Women 2009

  • The Black guy's run is historic because he's black and since he's black, it's historic.

    Ferraro: The Obama Camp "Have Played The Race Card Time After Time After Time" 2009

  • The Black guy's run is historic because he's black and since he's black, it's historic.

    Ferraro: The Obama Camp "Have Played The Race Card Time After Time After Time" 2009

  • "Black Magic" is more of a hodgepodge, with almost anything that involves civil rights, black basketball players or the historically black colleges and universities making the cut.

    Basketball’s 'Black Magic' 2008

  • In the misty subtropical mountains of Thạch An, a district in Vietnam’s remote north populated by ethnic minorities with high levels of poverty, Thạch Đen, or black jello, a traditional snack, has been identified as a climate-adapted recipe for prosperity.

    What Black Jello Says About the Power of Small Enterprise Peter Yeung 2022

  • scendantBlacks are those who are the sons and daughters of two American-born Blackparents, as determined by the application of the one-drop rule at the time collegesand universities commenced affirmative action programs.3 When affirmativeaction was created, this was the presumed group of Black people who wouldmake up its beneficiaries. We will distinguish Ascendant Blacks from threeoverlapping successive racial and ethnic groups of Black law students:• “Black Multiracials” – those who self-identify as two or moreraces, with one being Black;4• “Black Hispanics”—those who self-identify as Black andHispanic or Latino; and• “Black Immigrants” - those with some Black ancestry who haveat least one foreign born Black parent.

    California Law Review See all articles by Kevin D. Brown 2023

  • scendantBlacks are those who are the sons and daughters of two American-born Blackparents, as determined by the application of the one-drop rule at the time collegesand universities commenced affirmative action programs.3 When affirmativeaction was created, this was the presumed group of Black people who wouldmake up its beneficiaries. We will distinguish Ascendant Blacks from threeoverlapping successive racial and ethnic groups of Black law students:• “Black Multiracials” – those who self-identify as two or moreraces, with one being Black;4• “Black Hispanics”—those who self-identify as Black andHispanic or Latino; and• “Black Immigrants” - those with some Black ancestry who haveat least one foreign born Black parent.

    California Law Review See all articles by Kevin D. Brown 2023

  • scendantBlacks are those who are the sons and daughters of two American-born Blackparents, as determined by the application of the one-drop rule at the time collegesand universities commenced affirmative action programs.3 When affirmativeaction was created, this was the presumed group of Black people who wouldmake up its beneficiaries. We will distinguish Ascendant Blacks from threeoverlapping successive racial and ethnic groups of Black law students:• “Black Multiracials” – those who self-identify as two or moreraces, with one being Black;4• “Black Hispanics”—those who self-identify as Black andHispanic or Latino; and• “Black Immigrants” - those with some Black ancestry who haveat least one foreign born Black parent.

    California Law Review See all articles by Kevin D. Brown 2023

  • This plant is almost unkillable, so it's perfect for gardeners who tend to have a "black thumb."

    Skip the Dirt, Grow Air Plants Learn about BHG’s Editorial Process 2022

  • scendantBlacks are those who are the sons and daughters of two American-born Blackparents, as determined by the application of the one-drop rule at the time collegesand universities commenced affirmative action programs.3 When affirmativeaction was created, this was the presumed group of Black people who wouldmake up its beneficiaries. We will distinguish Ascendant Blacks from threeoverlapping successive racial and ethnic groups of Black law students:• “Black Multiracials” – those who self-identify as two or moreraces, with one being Black;4• “Black Hispanics”—those who self-identify as Black andHispanic or Latino; and• “Black Immigrants” - those with some Black ancestry who haveat least one foreign born Black parent.

    California Law Review See all articles by Kevin D. Brown 2023

  • Now, two groups of scientists have independently published research on what they have both called ‘black nitrogen’ – a transparent and crystalline allotrope of nitrogen formed at very high pressures and temperatures.

    New high pressure allotrope of nitrogen solves a chemical mystery Tom Metcalfe 2020

  • After arriving home from the Price’s offices, I pulled on what’s known in the catering world as “black bistro” and went to serve cocktails at a private party in a $32m home in Beverly Hills for $25 an hour.

    I applied for LA’s basic income program – and the process was startling Ruth Fowler 2021

Comments

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  • "Black, the ultimate noncolor, has supplanted red as the color of power."

    Amy Butler Greenfield, A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire (New York: Harper Collins, 2005), 259.

    October 6, 2017

  • Black and blue both have the same root if you compare the etymologies.

    November 6, 2019

  • Black horses are all black (coat + points). Some may have white markings (like stars or socks).

    November 14, 2022