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Meaning of black in English

  1. Pronunciation

    /blæk/

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  1. Verb

    black

    Definitions

    1. make or become black

    Examples

    • « The smoke blackened the ceiling »
    • « The ceiling blackened »

    Antonyms

    • whiten
    • white
  2. Classifying Adjective

    black

    Definitions

    1. marked by anger or resentment or hostility

    Examples

    • « black looks »
    • « black words »

    Synonyms

    • angry
  3. 2. stemming from evil characteristics or forces

    Examples

    • « wicked or dishonorable »
    • « black deeds »
    • « a black lie »
    • « his black heart has concocted yet another black deed »
    • « Darth Vader of the dark side »
    • « a dark purpose »
    • « dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility »
    • « the sc »

    Synonyms

    • evil
    • wicked
  4. 3. offering little or no hope

    Examples

    • « the future looked black »
    • « prospects were bleak »
    • « Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult- J.M.Synge »
    • « took a dim view of things »

    Synonyms

    • hopeless
  5. 4. (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences

    Examples

    • « bringing ruin »
    • « the stock market crashed on Black Friday »
    • « a calamitous defeat »
    • « the battle was a disastrous end to a disastrous campaign »
    • « such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fata »

    Synonyms

    • unfortunate
  6. 5. (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood

    Examples

    • « a face black with fury »

    Synonyms

    • colored
    • coloured
    • colorful
  7. 6. extremely dark

    Examples

    • « a black moonless night »
    • « through the pitch-black woods »
    • « it was pitch-dark in the celler »

    Synonyms

    • dark
  8. 7. harshly ironic or sinister

    Examples

    • « black humor »
    • « a grim joke »
    • « grim laughter »
    • « fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit »

    Synonyms

    • sarcastic
  9. 8. (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading

    Examples

    • « black propaganda »

    Synonyms

    • covert
  10. 9. distributed or sold illicitly

    Examples

    • « the black economy pays no taxes »

    Synonyms

    • illegal
  11. 10. (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame

    Examples

    • « Man...has written one of his blackest records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands- Rachel Carson »
    • « an ignominious retreat »
    • « inglorious defeat »
    • « an opprobrious monument to human »

    Synonyms

    • dishonorable
    • dishonourable
  12. 11. (of coffee) without cream or sugar

    Synonyms

    • undiluted
  13. 12. dressed in black

    Examples

    • « a black knight »
    • « black friars »

    Synonyms

    • clothed
    • clad
  14. 13. soiled with dirt or soot

    Examples

    • « with feet black from playing outdoors »
    • « his shirt was black within an hour »

    Synonyms

    • dirty
    • soiled
    • unclean
  15. Noun

    black

    Definitions

    1. the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)

    Antonyms

    • white
    • whiteness
  16. 2. total absence of light

    Examples

    • « they fumbled around in total darkness »
    • « in the black of night »
  17. 3. British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)
  18. 4. popular child actress of the 1930's (born 1927)
  19. 5. a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa)
  20. 6. (board games) the darker pieces

    Antonyms

    • white
  21. 7. black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning)

    Examples

    • « the widow wore black »
  22. Qualitative Adjective

    black

    Etymology

    Old English blæc, of Germanic origin

    Definitions

    1. being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness

    Examples

    • « having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light »
    • « black leather jackets »
    • « as black as coal »
    • « rich black soil »

    Antonyms

    • white
    • achromatic
  23. 2. of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin

    Examples

    • « a great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization- Martin Luther King Jr. »

    Synonyms

    • African-American
    • Afro-American
    • colored
    • coloured
    • dark
    • dark-skinned
    • negro
    • negroid

    Antonyms

    • white
    • caucasian

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