darks
darks — adjective
1. with little or no light, so that things are hard to see or look black.
with little or no light, so that things are hard to see or look black.
Christopher carried a small torch because the cellar was very dark.
predicative use: be + dark for ambient light level
The narrow hallway looked dark even at noon, with no windows on either side.
Beatrix lit two candles after the power went out and the kitchen turned dark.
Mizuki refused to walk home alone once the street had gone dark.
- dim
less complete absence of light; some light remains
- unlit
specifically lacking artificial light
- pitch-black
stronger: total absence of light
用法筆記
Frequently predicative with stative or change-of-state verbs (be, get, grow, go, turn). When used attributively, often paired with concrete nouns of place such as room, alley, sky, forest.
常見錯誤
2. describing a colour, hair, skin, or eyes that contains a lot of black and is clo
describing a colour, hair, skin, or eyes that contains a lot of black and is closer to black than to white.
Yael chose a dark green jacket to wear at her sister's winter wedding.
attributive: dark + colour-name as a modifier
Pim has dark brown eyes that look almost black under streetlights.
The painter mixed white into the dark blue until the wall looked like the evening sky.
Kwame's dark curly hair is just like his grandfather's in the old family photo.
Most of Kasia's winter clothes are dark, so dust shows up easily on them.
用法筆記
Distinguishes from sense 1 by describing the colour or pigmentation of an object, not the level of ambient light. Common compound modifiers: dark green, dark brown, dark blue, dark hair, dark skin.
常見錯誤
3. showing or coming from cruel, harmful, or morally bad qualities in a person or f
showing or coming from cruel, harmful, or morally bad qualities in a person or force.
The novel explores the dark side of village life behind its quiet, friendly image.
fixed phrase: the dark side of [something]
Tanvi was shocked when she discovered the dark history of the museum's founder.
Ramón keeps writing villains with dark motives that he half understands himself.
Behind the senator's polite smile, the journalists suspected dark intentions about the new law.
用法筆記
Subject is usually an abstract noun (side, history, motive, intention, secret), not a person directly. Distinguish from sense 4 (gloomy mood): sense 3 is about moral evil, sense 4 is about emotional gloom.
常見錯誤
4. feeling sad and without hope, or describing a time, mood, or story that makes pe
feeling sad and without hope, or describing a time, mood, or story that makes people feel that way.
After the funeral, Zayd fell into a dark mood that lasted for weeks.
collocation: dark mood / dark thoughts for low feelings
The film paints a dark picture of life in a small fishing town in winter.
Rachid wrote a dark novel about a hospital where everyone is slowly forgotten.
These have been dark times for the city's small bookshops since the floods.
- gloomy
low-spirited; often about weather or mood
- bleak
stronger: little hope of improvement
- depressing
causes low mood in others
用法筆記
Object of description is usually a mood, a period of time, or a work of art (mood, times, period, film, novel, comedy). Distinguish from sense 3 (evil): sense 4 is depressive or gloomy, not necessarily morally wrong.
常見錯誤
5. lacking knowledge, learning, or cultural understanding; typical of an era when e
lacking knowledge, learning, or cultural understanding; typical of an era when education and reason were not widespread.
Historians once called the early medieval centuries a dark age of lost learning.
fixed phrase: a dark age (singular) / the Dark Ages
Nia argued that no whole society is truly dark, only badly recorded by its winners.
Many villages remained dark in the eyes of the new school inspectors from the capital.
Élise hates the word 'dark' applied to peoples whose science we simply failed to read.
- unenlightened
matches the formal register of sense 5
- benighted
literary; same idea of lacking education
- uncivilised
stronger and often considered offensive today
- enlightened
having reason and education
- learned
well-educated, often in scholarship
用法筆記
Formal and now often criticised; the noun phrase 'Dark Ages' (capitalised) remains the most common form. Avoid applying this sense to living cultures — modern readers find it pejorative.
常見錯誤
6. hard to understand or find out about, either because no one has explored it or b
hard to understand or find out about, either because no one has explored it or because the meaning is hidden.
Kevin enjoys hiking through the darker valleys of the national park, far from the marked trails.
comparative: dark + corner / valley / forest for unexplored areas
The poet's final lines remain dark to most students, even after a full term of study.
predicative: dark to + reader, for hard-to-interpret texts
Minh's notes on the project are dark in places, full of arrows and half-finished thoughts.
Astronomers keep mapping the dark corners of the southern sky where no probe has flown.
- obscure
of meaning: hard to grasp
- uncharted
of places: not yet mapped
- impenetrable
stronger: cannot be understood at all
用法筆記
Often modifies space-nouns (corner, valley, region) for 'unexplored', or text-nouns (passage, line, meaning) for 'hard to interpret'. Distinguish from sense 7 (secret): sense 6 is about something nobody understands or has reached; sense 7 is about something deliberately hidden.
常見錯誤
7. kept hidden from other people, usually because the truth would be shameful or ha
kept hidden from other people, usually because the truth would be shameful or harmful.
Lucía finally told her brother the dark secret she had carried since high school.
fixed phrase: dark secret + carry / keep / reveal
The old farmhouse seemed to hold dark secrets about the family who built it.
Saira's dark past as a forger only came out during the trial last spring.
Politicians often promise transparency while keeping dark deals with private companies.
用法筆記
Object is something the speaker considers shameful or scandalous (secret, past, deal, history). Distinguish from sense 3 (evil): sense 7 emphasises concealment, even if the hidden thing is only embarrassing rather than fully wicked.
常見錯誤
8. of a theatre, cinema, or club: closed for the evening with no show, screening, o
of a theatre, cinema, or club: closed for the evening with no show, screening, or event for the public.
The Lyric Theatre is dark on Mondays so the cleaners can deep-clean the seats.
predicative: be dark + day-of-week for venue closures
Nora was disappointed to find the small jazz club dark on her first night in town.
Most West End theatres stayed dark through the long pandemic spring of 2020.
The cinema's marquee was unlit, and the lobby was dark for the whole holiday week.
- open
running shows for the public
用法筆記
Industry term in theatre, cinema, and live music. Almost always predicative ('the theatre is dark', 'the venue went dark'); rarely attributive.
常見錯誤
darks — noun
1. the state of having no light, treated as a thing you can be in, hide in, or be a
the state of having no light, treated as a thing you can be in, hide in, or be afraid of.
Christopher's little daughter is still afraid of the dark and sleeps with a small lamp on.
fixed phrase: afraid of the dark
Yael could just make out the shape of a fox in the dark beyond the garden fence.
in + the + dark for the spatial sense
The campers sat around the fire and told ghost stories long after dark had fallen.
Beatrix waited in the dark for over an hour before the rescue team finally arrived.
文法句型
the dark
in the dark
afraid of the dark
用法筆記
Usually with the definite article ('the dark') and uncountable. Common fixed phrases: in the dark (literal or 'uninformed'), after dark, before dark, afraid of the dark.
常見錯誤
2. the period of the day when the sun has set and outdoor places are not lit by the
the period of the day when the sun has set and outdoor places are not lit by the sun.
Mizuki's parents told her to come home before dark or call them for a lift.
fixed phrase: before dark for end of daylight
The market in Bangkok only really wakes up after dark, when the food stalls open.
fixed phrase: after dark for evening hours
Pim drove for two hours after dark on a road with no streetlights at all.
Most birds in the garden stop singing as dark approaches in late autumn.
文法句型
after dark
before dark
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: sense 1 is the state of being unlit (you can sit 'in the dark' in a closed cinema at noon); sense 2 is the part of the day after sunset.
常見錯誤
3. a deep or low-lightness colour, especially one used in painting, photography, or
a deep or low-lightness colour, especially one used in painting, photography, or print to give weight or contrast.
Kwame mixed his darks first so the highlights in the portrait would feel even brighter.
countable plural: darks of a painting
The printer adjusted the darks until the photo of Tanvi's wedding finally looked rich.
Ramón loves the deep darks in old Spanish oil paintings of cooks and kitchens.
In editing, Kasia pulled the darks down a little to hide the noise in the night sky.
- shadows
the dark areas of an image
- deep tones
less technical alternative
- highlights
the bright areas of an image
- lights
the pale tones in a painting
文法句型
the darks of a painting
用法筆記
Common in art, photography, and printing as a countable noun, usually plural ('the darks'). Distinguish from sense 4 (clothing): sense 3 refers to dark tones in an image; sense 4 refers to dark-coloured clothes for laundry.
常見錯誤
4. items of clothing that are dark in colour, taken as a group to be washed separat
items of clothing that are dark in colour, taken as a group to be washed separately from white or pale clothes.
Zayd put all his darks into one load so the new red towel would not bleed onto his shirts.
fixed collocation: wash / sort the darks
Rachid sorts the family laundry into darks, whites, and delicates every Sunday morning.
Nia uses cold water for the darks so the colours stay bright for longer.
Élise's washing machine has a special cycle just for darks and another for towels.
- dark clothes
longer, more explicit form
- coloureds
British: includes non-white clothing more broadly
- whites
the plural-only opposite for laundry
文法句型
the darks
wash the darks
用法筆記
Always plural ('darks', never '*a dark' in this sense) and almost always with the definite article. Standard household-laundry vocabulary alongside 'whites' and 'delicates'.
常見錯誤
darks — verb
1. to grow dim or lose light; to become darker in colour or mood. Used mainly in ol
to grow dim or lose light; to become darker in colour or mood. Used mainly in older or literary writing.
As the sky darks, Kevin stops painting and packs his easel into the car.
literary intransitive: subject + darks for fading light
The lake darks under a passing cloud, then shines bright again a minute later.
Minh felt her mood dark as the long meeting dragged into a third hour.
Lucía wrote that the forest darks early in November, well before the city does.
文法句型
sky/room + darks
用法筆記
Very rare in modern English; most speakers use 'darken' or 'grow dark' instead. Found chiefly in older poetry and stylised prose. Subjects are usually places, the sky, or moods.
常見錯誤
2. to cause something to lose light, hue, or hope; to make a place, colour, or mood
to cause something to lose light, hue, or hope; to make a place, colour, or mood darker.
Saira draws thick curtains to dark the room before her afternoon migraines start.
literary transitive: dark + room / sky / mood
Storm clouds darked the whole valley within ten minutes of crossing the ridge.
Nora's news from home darked her father's birthday lunch in an instant.
The painter darked the corners of the canvas to push the figures toward the centre.
文法句型
dark + something
用法筆記
Very rare in modern English; 'darken' is the standard transitive verb. Use sense 2 only when echoing literary or older registers, or for stylistic effect.