- the dark[singular] the lack of light in a place, especially because it is night
- Are the children afraid of the dark?
- in the dark All the lights went out and we were left in the dark.
- animals that can see in the dark
Extra Examples- The armbands glow in the dark.
- I fumbled for the light switch in the pitch dark.
- I hate getting up in the dark.
- We could just make out some figures in the gathering dark.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- pitch
- gathering
- after dark
- before dark
- in the dark
- …
- afraid of the dark
- [uncountable] an amount of something that is dark in colour
- patterns of light and dark
no light
colour
Word OriginOld English deorc, of Germanic origin, probably distantly related to German tarnen ‘conceal’.
Idioms
See dark in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee dark in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishafter/before dark
- after/before the sun goes down and it is night
- Try to get home before dark.
- Don't go out alone after dark.
in the dark (about something)
- knowing nothing about something
- Workers were kept in the dark about the plans to sell the company.
- She arrived at the meeting as much in the dark as everyone else.
a leap in the dark
- an action or a risk that you take without knowing anything about the activity or what the result will be
- I didn’t know what the new job would be like—I just took a leap in the dark.
a shot/stab in the dark
- a guess; something you do without knowing what the result will be
- The figure he came up with was really just a shot in the dark.
- It was only a stab in the dark, but I hoped I might be right.
whistle in the dark
- to pretend not to be afraid
- Instead of whistling in the dark about the inevitable disaster, we should be making plans for when it strikes.
Check pronunciation:
dark