The difference between Black and Dark
When used as nouns, black means the colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed, whereas dark means a complete or (more often) partial absence of light.
When used as adjectives, black means absorbing all light and reflecting none, whereas dark means extinguished.
Black is also verb with the meaning: to make black, to blacken.
check bellow for the other definitions of Black and Dark
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Black as an adjective (of an object):
Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
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Black as an adjective (of a place, etc):
Without light.
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Black as an adjective (sometimes [[capitalized]]):
Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.
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Black as an adjective (chiefly, historical):
Designated for use by those ethnic groups which have dark pigmentation of the skin.
Examples:
"black drinking fountain; black hospital"
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Black as an adjective (card games, of a card):
Of the spades or clubs suits. Compare
Examples:
"I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the black queens."
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Black as an adjective:
Bad; evil; ill-omened.
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Black as an adjective:
Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen.
Examples:
"He shot her a black look."
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Black as an adjective:
Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced.
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Black as an adjective (Ireland, informal):
Overcrowded.
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Black as an adjective (of [[coffee]] or [[tea]]):
Without any cream, milk or creamer.
Examples:
"Jim drinks his coffee black, but Ellen prefers it with creamer."
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Black as an adjective (board games, chess):
Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess the set used by the player who moves second) .
Examples:
"The black pieces in this [[chess set]] are made of [[dark]] [[blue]] [[glass]]."
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Black as an adjective (typography):
Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color. Compare .
Examples:
"Compare two Unicode symbols: mu ☞ = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; mu ☛ = BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX"
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Black as an adjective (politics):
Related to the of Germany.
Examples:
"After the election, the parties united in a black-yellow alliance."
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Black as an adjective:
Relating to an initiative whose existence or exact nature must remain withheld from the general public.
Examples:
"5 percent of the Defense Department funding will go to black projects."
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Black as an adjective (Ireland, now, pejorative):
Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic
Examples:
"Originally "the Black North" meant west [[Ulster]],<ref> 1812, Edward Wakefield, [https://books.google.ie/books?id=P54TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA737 ''An Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political'' Vol. 2 p. 737] "There is a district, comprehending Donegal, the interior of the county of Derry, and the western side of Tyrone, which is emphatically called by the people "the Black North," an expression not meant, as I conceive, to mark its greater exposure to the westerly winds, but rather its dreary aspect." </ref> then Protestant east Ulster. Compare also [[blackmouth]] ["[[Presbyterian]]"] and the [[w:Royal Black Institution Royal Black Institution]]."
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Black as an adjective:
Examples:
"[[black birch]], [[black locust]], [[black rhino]]"
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Black as a noun (countable, and, uncountable):
The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.
Examples:
"colour pane000"
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Black as a noun (countable, and, uncountable):
A black dye or pigment.
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Black as a noun (countable):
A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
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Black as a noun (in the plural):
Black cloth hung up at funerals.
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Black as a noun (sometimes capitalised, countable):
A person of African, Aborigine, or Maori descent; a dark-skinned person.
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Black as a noun (billiards, snooker, pool, countable):
The black ball.
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Black as a noun (baseball, countable):
The edge of home plate.
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Black as a noun (British, countable):
A type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
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Black as a noun (informal, countable):
Blackcurrant syrup (in mixed drinks, e.g. snakebite and black, cider and black).
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Black as a noun (in chess and similar games, countable):
The person playing with the black set of pieces.
Examples:
"At this point black makes a disastrous move."
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Black as a noun (countable):
Part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black.
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Black as a noun (obsolete, countable):
A stain; a spot.
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Black as a noun:
A dark smut fungus, harmful to wheat.
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Black as a verb:
To make black, to blacken.
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Black as a verb:
To apply blacking to something.
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Black as a verb (British):
To boycott something or someone, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
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Dark as an adjective (of a source of [[light]]):
Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. Extinguished. Deprived of sight; blind.
Examples:
"The room was too dark for reading."
"'Dark signals should be treated as all-way stop signs."
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Dark as an adjective (of colour):
Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.
Examples:
"my sister's hair is darker than mine;  her skin grew dark with a suntan"
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Dark as an adjective (betting, of race horses):
Hidden, secret, obscure. Not clear to the understanding; not easily through; obscure; mysterious; hidden. Having racing capability not widely known.
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Dark as an adjective:
Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign.
Examples:
"a dark villain;  a dark deed"
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Dark as an adjective:
Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
Examples:
"the Great Depression was a dark time;  the film was a dark psychological thriller"
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Dark as an adjective:
Lacking progress in science or the arts; said of a time period.
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Dark as an adjective:
With emphasis placed on the unpleasant aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form or a portion of either.
Examples:
"The ending of this book is rather dark."
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Dark as a noun:
A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.
Examples:
"'Dark surrounds us completely."
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Dark as a noun (uncountable):
Ignorance.
Examples:
"We kept him in the dark."
"The lawyer was left in the dark as to why the jury was dismissed."
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Dark as a noun (uncountable):
Nightfall.
Examples:
"It was after dark before we got to playing baseball."
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Dark as a noun:
A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.
Compare words:
Compare with synonyms and related words:
- black vs dark
- black vs swart
- black vs white
- black vs nonblack
- black vs unblack
- black vs dark
- black vs gloomy
- black vs pitch-black
- black vs bright
- black vs illuminated
- black vs lit
- Negro vs black
- black vs white
- black vs coon
- black vs nigger
- African American vs black
- Afro-American vs black
- black vs blacken
- black vs darken
- black vs swarten
- black vs blackball
- black vs blacklist
- dark vs dim
- dark vs gloomy
- bright vs dark
- dark vs light
- dark vs lit
- dark vs deep
- bright vs dark
- dark vs light
- dark vs pale
- dark vs hidden
- dark vs secret
- dark vs sinister
- dark vs malign
- dark vs sinister
- dark vs hopeless
- dark vs negative
- dark vs pessimistic
- dark vs unenlightened