1.
[syn: blackening, darkening]
ADJECTIVE (1)
1. becoming dark or darker as from waning light or clouding over;
- Example: "the darkening sky"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Darken \Dark"en\ (d[aum]rk"'n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Darkened
(-'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Darkening (-n*[i^]ng).] [AS.
deorcian. See Dark, a.]
1. To make dark or black; to deprive of light; to obscure;
as, a darkened room.
[1913 Webster]
They [locusts] covered the face of the whole earth,
so that the land was darkened. --Ex. x. 15.
[1913 Webster]
So spake the Sovran Voice; and clouds began
To darken all the hill. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. To render dim; to deprive of vision.
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Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.
--Rom. xi. 10.
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3. To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or
intelligible.
[1913 Webster]
Such was his wisdom that his confidence did seldom
darkenhis foresight. --Bacon.
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Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without
knowledge? --Job.
xxxviii. 2.
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4. To cast a gloom upon.
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With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not
The mirth of the feast. --Shak.
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5. To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.
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I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness. --Shak.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Darkening \Dark"en*ing\, n.
Twilight; gloaming. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.] --Wright.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
darkening
adj 1: becoming dark or darker as from waning light or clouding
over; "the darkening sky"
n 1: changing to a darker color [syn: blackening, darkening]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
50 Moby Thesaurus words for "darkening":
blackening, blocking the light, burial, burying, clouding,
concealedness, concealment, covering, covering up, covertness,
deception, denigration, dimming, eclipsing, extinguishment,
hiddenness, hiding, interment, invisibility, masking, melanization,
mystification, nigrification, obfuscation, obnubilation,
obscuration, obscurement, obumbration, occultation, occulting,
overcast, overclouding, overshading, overshadowing, overshadowment,
putting away, screening, secrecy, secretion, shading, shadowing,
smirch, smirching, smudge, smudging, smut, smutch, smutching,
subterfuge, uncommunicativeness