darkness

• darckness (obsolete)
• darkeness (obsolete)

From Middle English derknesse, from Old English deorcnes; equivalent to dark +‎ -ness.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑːknəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑɹknɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)knɪs, -ɑː(ɹ)knəs
• Hyphenation: dark‧ness

darkness (countable and uncountable, plural darknesses)

1. (uncountable) The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light.

   The darkness of the room made it difficult to see.

   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     Over everything was darkness and thick silence, and the smell of dust and sunflowers.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384:

     Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

2. (uncountable) The state or quality of reflecting little light, of tending to a blackish or brownish color.

   The darkness of her skin betrayed her Mediterranean heritage.

3. (uncountable) Gloom; gloominess; depression.
4. (countable) The product of being dark.
5. (uncountable) Lack of understanding or compassion; spiritual or mental blindness.
6. (uncountable) Secrecy; concealment.
7. (uncountable) Lack of knowledge; obscurity or meaning or intelligibility; the unknown.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], OCLC 1042815524, part I, page 195:

     It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness.

8. (uncountable) Hell.
   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Eden Prime:

     Shepard: Can you tell me anything about the beacon?
     Dr. Warren: It's some type of data module from a galaxy-wide communications network. Remarkably well-preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetime!
     Dr. Warren: Miraculous new technologies. Groundbreaking medical advances. Who knows what secrets are locked inside?
     Dr. Manuel: We have unearthed the heart of evil. Awakened the beast. Unleashed the darkness.

• lightness
• light

• Danskers