the dark ages

IPA/ðə ˈdɑːk eɪdʒɪz/
IPA/ðə ˈdɑːrk eɪdʒɪz/

the dark ages — noun

1. the stretch of European history that began right after the Western Roman Empire

1.nounB2
Definition

the stretch of European history that began right after the Western Roman Empire fell in the 5th century and lasted until about the 11th century, a time when learning, trade, and culture declined significantly.

Example

Ziad's history class spent a month studying the fall of Rome and the dark ages that followed.

the + dark ages; usually capitalized as the Dark Ages

Very few written records survive from the dark ages, so historians mainly rely on archaeological finds.

survive from the dark ages

Common collocations
  • the dark ages
  • during the dark ages
  • from the dark ages
  • the dark ages in [place]
  • since the dark ages
Synonyms
  • early Middle Ages

    the more neutral scholarly term for roughly the same period (500–1000 AD)

  • post-Roman period

    a purely chronological label without the negative judgement that 'dark ages' carries

Grammar Patterns

the + dark ages

Usage Note

Commonly written with capital letters (the Dark Ages), though lowercase is accepted in informal contexts. Historians today often avoid the term because it suggests a value judgement about the period.

Common Mistakes

The Dark Age was a time of little progress.
The Dark Ages were a time of little progress.
The name is always plural (Ages) and takes a plural verb.

2. any period in the past when a particular activity, technology, or area of life w

2.nounB2
Definition

any period in the past when a particular activity, technology, or area of life was primitive, poorly understood, or undeveloped compared with modern standards.

Example

Sahil calls the 1980s the dark ages of computing because few homes had internet access.

the dark ages of [field]

In the dark ages of medicine, doctors did not know that hand washing prevents infection.

Common collocations
  • the dark ages of [field]
  • in the dark ages before [innovation]
  • back in the dark ages
  • since the dark ages
Synonyms
  • primitive times

    similar meaning but less idiomatic and more neutral in tone

  • the stone age

    a stronger, more humorous expression for extremely primitive conditions

Antonyms
  • modern era

    the opposite concept of an advanced, developed period

  • golden age

    a period of great achievement and progress, used as a positive contrast

Grammar Patterns

the + dark ages + of + [field]

Usage Note

A light-hearted or critical expression. Often used in the phrase 'the dark ages of [field/activity]' to contrast a primitive past with a more advanced present. Not appropriate in serious academic writing.

Common Mistakes

The company's IT is in the dark age.
The company's IT is in the dark ages.
Even in the figurative sense, the expression stays plural.

Etymology

LatinItalianEnglish

The phrase 'the Dark Ages' was first used in English in the early 17th century by historians who looked back at the period after Rome's fall and saw a time of cultural darkness compared with the classical world. The word 'dark' here means 'unknown' or 'obscure', a translation of the Latin 'saeculum obscurum' used by the Italian scholar Petrarch in the 1300s. The metaphor caught on and later expanded to any backward or undeveloped period in any field.