English Explanatory Dictionary

darken

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To make dark or darker by reducing light.
  2. To become dark or darker (having less light).
  3. To get dark (referring to the sky, either in the evening or as a result of cloud).
  4. To make dark or darker in colour.
  5. To become dark or darker in colour.
  6. To render gloomy, darker in mood.
  7. To become gloomy, darker in mood.
  8. To blind, impair the eyesight.
  9. To be blinded, lose one’s eyesight.
  10. To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.
  11. To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.
  12. To be extinguished or deprived of vitality, to die.

Pronunciation

/ˈdɑɹkən/ /ˈdɑːkən/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darken.wav

Word forms

darken darkens darkening darkened no-table-tags glossary darkenest darkenedst darkeneth

Etymology

From Middle English derkenen, dirkenen, from Old English *deorcnian, *diercnian (“to darken”), from Proto-West Germanic *dirkinōn (“to darken”), equivalent to dark + -en. Cognate with Scots derken, durken (“to darken”), Old High German tarchanjan, terchinen (“to darken”), Middle High German terken, derken (“to darken”).

Synonyms

bedark blacken endark swarten mirken dusk begloom bring down dispirit aggrieve attrist begrieve besorrow grieve pain come down on contristate darken dash deject depress desolate engrieve forset get down grieven moan oppress repent rue sadden sadden up tristitiate ungladden unhappy upset gloom mourn yearn condole erme bleed lament remorse regret sigh sorrow wayment beblind blinden exoculate inblind becloud bedarken bedim fog befoul denigrate soil assoil

Related words

dark

Derived words

bedarken darken a church door darken down darkener darken someone's door darken someone's doorstep darken someone's doorway darken up endarken overdarken redarken

Translations

Albanian: ngrys Amharic: ጨለመ Armenian: մթնել Armenian: մգացնել Azerbaijani: qaralmaq Azerbaijani: toralmaq Azerbaijani: qaraltmaq Bulgarian: потъмнявам Dutch: donker worden Dutch: donkerder maken Dutch: donkerder kleuren Esperanto: malheliĝi Esperanto: mallumiĝi Finnish: pimentyä Finnish: tummentaa French: obscurcir French: assombrir French: foncer Galician: escurecer Galician: escurentar Galician: enfoscar Galician: amourear Galician: abazanar Galician: entoldar Galician: toldar Galician: entoucar Galician: lobrecer Galician: enmourecer Galician: atrapecer German: verdunkeln Gothic: 𐍂𐌹𐌵𐌹𐌶𐌾𐌰𐌽 Ancient Greek: ἀμαυρόομαι Italian: imbrunire Old English: nīpan Polish: ciemnieć Polish: ściemnieć Quechua: arphayay Romagnol: imbrunìr Russian: темне́ть Russian: затемнять Swedish: mörkna Basque: goibeldu Icelandic: dekkja Māori: whakauriuri
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on D Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary