dark

dark1 [ dark ] adjective ***

1. ) lacking light:

a dark and stormy night

When Maggie woke up, it was still dark.

get/grow dark (=become dark at the end of a day): When they left, it was already starting to get dark.

go dark (=become suddenly dark): The room went dark and the movie screen flickered into life.

2. ) black or almost black in color:

He was dressed in a dark suit with a white shirt.

There were dark patches on the walls where water had soaked through.

She glanced up at the dark clouds above the cliffs.

a ) strong and not pale in color:

dark blue/green/red etc.: a dark blue jacket

b ) dark hair, eyes, or skin are brown or black in color:

He was tanned and had dark curly hair.

an attractive dark-haired nurse

c ) if a white person is described as being dark, they have brown or black hair and sometimes skin that is not light in color:

a tall dark man

3. ) usually before noun morally bad, dangerous, or frightening:

I always suspected there was a darker side to his character.

a ) usually before noun a dark time is one in which people feel frightened, unhappy, and without hope:

during the darkest days of the war

someone's darkest hour: This was the President's darkest hour.

b ) usually before noun a dark look or remark is angry and threatening

c ) usually before noun dark thoughts are sad because you believe that something bad is going to happen

d ) usually before noun a dark secret or mystery is kept well hidden, especially because people would not approve if they knew about it

e ) only before noun a dark place is distant and mysterious because very little information is known about it:

in some dark corner of his mind

4. ) if a theater is dark, there are no performances there during a particular time

dark

dark 2 [ dark ] noun ***

the dark a situation in which there is no light, especially because it is night:

Timothy is afraid of the dark.

in the dark: Why are you sitting here in the dark?

after dark

after it has become night:

Do not go out on your own after dark.

before dark

before it becomes night:

We were hoping to get home before dark.

in the dark (about something)

not knowing very much about something, because other people are keeping it secret from you:

We are still very much in the dark about how the money was lost.

keep someone in the dark (about something) (=not tell someone about something because you want to keep it secret from them): You've kept us totally in the dark about what happened that night.