Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The absolute or comparative absence of light, or the modification of visual sensation produced by such absence; gloom. It may be due either to a deficient illumination, or to a low degree of luminosity or transparency in the dark object.
- n. Secrecy; concealment; privacy.
- n. The state of being blind physically; blindness.
- n. Hence Mental or spiritual blindness; lack of knowledge or enlightenment, especially in religion and morality: as, heathen darkness.
- n. The kingdom of the evil one; hell: as, the powers of darkness.
- n. The gloom and obscurity of the grave; death.
- n. Obscurity of meaning; lack of clearness or intelligibility.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable The state of being dark; lack of light.
- n. uncountable Gloom.
- n. countable The product of being dark.
- n. uncountable The state or quality of reflecting little light, of tending to a blackish or brownish color.
- n. uncountable Evilness, lack of understanding or compassion, reference to death or suffering.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The absence of light; blackness; obscurity; gloom.
- n. A state of privacy; secrecy.
- n. A state of ignorance or error, especially on moral or religious subjects; hence, wickedness; impurity.
- n. Want of clearness or perspicuity; obscurity.
- n. A state of distress or trouble.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an unilluminated area
- n. an unenlightened state
- n. having a dark or somber color
- n. a swarthy complexion
- n. absence of moral or spiritual values
- n. absence of light or illumination
Etymologies
- From dark + -ness (Wiktionary)
Examples
“While it is true that, regardless of the conditions in our little room, darkness still exists wherever there is no light, and light still exists wherever there is no darkness, yet for this particular room _there is no darkness when the sun shines in_, and _there is no light when the room is filled with darkness_.”
“And, says One, _if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness_! [”
“Queen Ranavalona does not like darkness, so we condemned it at once -- unanimously -- for we could not for a moment tolerate anything with _darkness_ in it. ”
“Therefore, to distinguish between what appertains to the primary polarity, Levity-Gravity, on the one hand, and their visible effects in the secondary polarity of the colours, on the other, we shall henceforth reserve the term darkness and, with it, lightness for instances where the perceptible components of the respective colours are concerned, while speaking of Dark and Light where reference is made to the generating primary polarity.”
“Further there are some affirmations which we make concerning God which have the force of absolute negation: for example, when we use the term darkness, in reference to God, we do not mean darkness itself, but that He is not light but above light: and when we speak of Him as light, we mean that”
“To walk in darkness is to live and act according to such ignorance, error, and erroneous practice, as are contrary to the fundamental dictates of our holy religion.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)
“One bright light in the darkness is a new program offered by Veterans Affairs Canada called Operational Stress Injury Support Services (OSISS), which began offering peer-support counseling to returning soldiers of all rank, bars and stripes, including active-duty, reservists and veterans.”
Part II: Soldiering on? The invisible injuries of war : Law is Cool
“The ability to control the darkness is the ability to command the light, and the ability to control the waters is the ability to delimit their boundaries and make them useful rather than destructive; useful for sustaining life.”
“Often at night when I can hear mysterious and magic voices, when I can see that the darkness is all alive, he sits at the table with bent head and goes on and on, scratching with his black claw on the white papers.”
“Red lightsabers for a Jedi, odd, looks like the darkness is already reaching you.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘darkness’.
-
Guide to the Perplexed
Lexicon of terms set forth in Maimonides 'Guide to the Perplexed'. A fascinating exercise in theosophy and translation if one substitutes these definitions for a "revised" reading of the Old Testa...
eye, apprehend, associations, air, ruah : or ruhoth,..., affection, attribute, approach, accidents, ascending, articulated, back and 119 more...
-
macabre
words associated with the macabre & horror.
( open list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.co...ghastly, grisly, culeus, silly, gruesome, horrid, morbid, angelic, shocking, hideous, ghoulish, frightful and 135 more...
-
RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
-
Words Associated With Jesus
Words that indentify Jesus and His Salvation to those who seek Him.
hope, grace, love, faith, salvation, truth, eternity, heaven, god, holy spirit, bible, scripture and 191 more...
-
Band or Brand?
Band names that are also common words or phrases.
genesis, who, beatles, journey, germs, sublime, doors, cars, nirvana, bangles, tool, pixies and 192 more...
-
RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
-
ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
( open list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/macabrephantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 311 more...
-
Holli
Cancer, Mercury, water, moon, dark, emotion, nostalgia, angst, brooding, isolation, shadow, corner and 145 more...
-
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
-
The Most Beautiful Words in the Engli...
mellifluous, obscure, star-crossed, undulating, solstice, messiah, audacious, solace, twilight, wanderlust, lovelorn, byzantine and 219 more...
-
africasunsets's list
serendipity, fragrance, glamour, smitten, nourish, lavish, luxury, wicked, gem, daring, soothe, fantasy and 192 more...
-
#1
Words I Like
abide, sashay, microbial, scented, nature, amorphous, unknown, imagine, photogenic, soft, silken, history and 188 more...
-
Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
-
miltonic
liberty, froth-becurlèd, host, huge-bellied, aghast, rills, gladsom, wrathfull, ordain, thunder-clasping, ruddy, warble and 264 more...
-
Idk, I like these words.
ethereality, apathy, consideration, soul, safety, lone wolf, darkness, pressure, ocean, few, collapse, believe and 155 more...
-
Gotim
Aries, fire, chaos, destruction, Mars, aggression, bold, competetive, conflict, raw, black, red and 165 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for darkness.

brobbins flesh, corruption Jul 22, 2009
anydelirium 'I never knew the darkness had so many colours, all of them black.' -the book Firethorn, by Sarah Micklem Feb 18, 2008