SG Heritage Dictionary

Darkness [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Absence of light.

2. And darkness was on the face of the deep. Genesis 1:2 .

3. Obscurity; want of clearness or perspicuity; that quality or state which renders any thing difficult to be understood; as the darkness of counsels.

4. A state of being intellectually clouded; ignorance.

5. Men loved darkness rather than light. John 3:19 .

6. A private place; secrecy; privacy.

7. What I tell in darkness that speak ye in light.

8. Matthew 10:27 .

9. Infernal gloom; hell; as utter darkness Matthew 22:13 .

10. Great trouble and distress; calamities; perplexities.

11. A day of clouds and thick darkness Joel 2:2 . Is.

12. viii.

13. Empire of Satan.

14. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness

15. Colossians 1:13 .

16. Opakeness.

17. Land of darkness the grave. Job 10:21 .

Darkness [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The absence of light; blackness; obscurity; gloom.

2. A state of privacy; secrecy.

3. A state of ignorance or error, especially on moral or religious subjects; hence, wickedness; impurity.

4. Want of clearness or perspicuity; obscurity; as, the darkness of a subject, or of a discussion.

5. A state of distress or trouble.

Darkness Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

the absence of light. “Darkness was upon the face of the deep,” Gen. i, 2; that is, the chaos was immersed in thick darkness, because light was withheld from it. The most terrible darkness was that brought on Egypt as a plague; it was so thick as to be, as it were, palpable; so horrible, that no one durst stir out of his place; and so lasting, that it endured three days and three nights, Exod. x, 21, 22; Wisdom xvii, 2, 3. The darkness at our Saviour’s death began at the sixth hour, or noon, and ended at the third hour, or three o’clock in the afternoon. Thus it lasted almost the whole time he was on the cross; compare Matt. xxvii, 45, with John xix, 14, and Mark xv, 25. Origen, Maldonatus, Erasmus, Vatablus, and others, were of opinion that this darkness covered Judea only; which is sometimes called the _whole earth_; that is, the whole country. Chrysostom, Euthymius, Theophylact, and others, thought it extended over a hemisphere. Origen says it was caused by a thick mist, which precluded the sight of the sun. That it was preternatural is certain, for, the moon being at full, a natural eclipse of the sun was impossible. Darkness is sometimes used metaphorically for death. “The land of darkness” is the grave, Job x, 22; Psalm cvii, 10. It is also used to denote misfortunes and calamities: “A day of darkness” is a day of affliction, Esther xi, 8. “Let that day be darkness; let darkness stain it,”--let it be reckoned among the unfortunate days, Job iii, 4, 5. The expressions, “I will cover the heavens with darkness;” “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,” &c, signify very great political calamities, involving the overthrow of kings, princes, and nobles, represented by the luminaries of heaven. In a moral sense, ...

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
[336 words — estimated reading time: 2 minutes]

Darkness Roget’s Thesaurus §421

N. d, darkness, ], absence of light, "eldest night and chaos, ancestors of nature", blackness, "the blackness of the noonday night", obscurity, "the prayer of ajax was for light", gloom, murk, dusk, cimmerian darkness, stygian darkness, egyptian darkness, night, midnight, dead of night, witching hour of night, witching time of night, blind man's holiday, darkness visible, darkness that can be felt, palpable obscure, erebus, "the jaws of darkness", "sablevested night", shade, shadow, umbra, penumbra, sciagraphy, obscuration, occultation, adumbration, obumbration, obtenebration, offuscation|, caligation|, extinction, eclipse, total eclipse, gathering of the clouds, shading, distribution of shade, chiaroscuro, noctivagation, black body, hohlraum, black hole, dark star, dark matter, cold dark matter

V. be dark, darken, obscure, shade, dim, tone down, lower, overcast, overshadow, eclipse, obfuscate, offuscate|, obumbrate, adumbrate, cast into the shade becloud, bedim, bedarken, cast a shade, throw a shade, spread a shade, cast a shadow, cast a gloom, throw a shadow, spread a shadow, cast gloom, throw gloom, spread gloom, extinguish, put out, blow out, snuff out, doubt, turn out the lights, douse the lights, dim the lights, turn off the lights, switch off the lights

Adj. dark, darksome, darkling, obscure, tenebrious, sombrous, pitch dark, pitchy, pitch black, caliginous, black, sunless, lightless &c. (see sun , light, ), somber, dusky, unilluminated &c. (see illuminate ), nocturnal, dingy, lurid, gloomy, murky, murksome, shady, umbrageous, overcast, cloudy, darkened, &c. v, dark as pitch, dark as a pit, dark as erebus, benighted, noctivagant, |, noctivagous, |

Adv. in the dark, in the shade

Phr. "brief as the lightning in the collied night" [m

Dimness Roget’s Thesaurus §422

N. dimness, darkness, paleness &c. # (light color) 429, half light, demi-jour, partial shadow, partial eclipse, shadow of a shade, glimmer, gliming, nebulosity, cloud, eclipse, aurora, dusk, twilight, shades of evening, crepuscule, cockshut time|, break of day, daybreak, dawn, moonlight, moonbeam, moonglade, moonshine, starlight, owl's light, candlelight, rushlight, firelight, farthing candle

V. be dim, grow dim, flicker, twinkle, glimmer, loom, lower, fade, pale, pale its ineffectual fire, render dim, dim, bedim, obscure, darken, tone down

Adj. dim, dull, lackluster, dingy, darkish, shorn of its beams, dark 421, faint, shadowed forth, glassy, cloudy, misty, blear, muggy|, fuliginous, nebulous, nebular, obnubilated, overcast, crepuscular, muddy, lurid, leaden, dun, dirty, looming, pale, confused

Ignorance Roget’s Thesaurus §491

N. ignorance, nescience, tabula rasa, crass ignorance, ignorance crasse, unfamiliarity, unacquaintance, unconsciousness, darkness, blindness, incomprehension, inexperience, simplicity, unknown quantities, x, y, z, sealed book, terra incognita, virgin soil, unexplored ground, dark ages, smattering, sciolism, glimmering, dilettantism, bewilderment, incapacity, pedantry, charlatanry, charlatism, philister, philistine

V. be ignorant, not know, know not, know not what, know nothing of, have no idea, have no notion, have no conception, not have the remotest idea, not know chalk from cheese, ignore, be blind to, keep in ignorance, see through a glass darkly, have a film over the eyes, have a glimmering, wonder whether, not know what to make of, not pretend to take upon, not take upon one self to say

Adj. ignorant, nescient, unknowing, unaware, unacquainted, unapprised, unapprized, unwitting, unweeting|, unconscious, witless, weetless, a stranger to, unconversant, uninformed, uncultivated, unversed, uninstructed, untaught, uninitiated, untutored, unschooled, misguided, unenlightened, philistine, behind the age, shallow, superficial, green, rude, empty, half-learned, illiterate, unread, uninformed, uneducated, unlearned, unlettered, unbookish, empty- headed, dizzy, wooly-headed, pedantic, in the dark, benighted, belated, blinded, blindfolded, hoodwinked, misinformed, au bout de son latin, at the end of his tether, at fault, at sea, caught tripping, unknown, unapprehended, unexplained, unascertained, uninvestigated, unexplored, unheard of, not perceived, concealed, novel

Adv. ignorantly, unawares, for anything, for aught one knows, not that one knows

Phr. "ignorance never settles a question", quantum animis erroris inest, [Ovid], "small latin and less greek", "that unlettered small-knowing soul", "there is no darkness but ignorance"

Int. god knows, heaven knows, the lord knows, who knows, nobody knows

Latency. Implication Roget’s Thesaurus §526

N. {ant. 525} latency, inexpression, hidden meaning, occult meaning, occultness, mystery, cabala, anagoge, silence, concealment, more than meets the eye, more than meets the ear, delphic oracle, le dessous des cartes, undercurrent, implication, logical implication, logical consequence, entailment, allusion, insinuation, innuendo, adumbration, "something rotten in the state of denmark", snake in the grass, secret, darkness, invisibility, imperceptibility

V. be latent, lurk, smolder, underlie, make no sign, escape observation, escape detection, escape recognition, lie hid, laugh in one's sleeve, keep back, involve, imply, understand, allude to, infer, leave an inference, entail, whisper, read between the lines

Adj. latent, lurking, secret, occult, implied, dormant, abeyant, unapparent, unknown, unseen, in the background, invisible, indiscoverable, dark, impenetrable, unspied, unsuspected, unsaid, unwritten, unpublished, unbreathed, untalked of, untold, unsung, unexposed, unproclaimed, undisclosed, unexpressed, not expressed, tacit, undeveloped, solved, unexplained, untraced, undiscovered, untracked, unexplored, uninvented, indirect, crooked, inferential, by inference, by implication, implicit, constructive, allusive, covert, muffled, steganographic, understood, underhand, underground, delitescent, concealed

Adv. by a side wind, sub silentio, in the background, behind the scenes, behind one's back, on the tip of one's tongue, secretly, between the lines

Phr. "thereby hangs a tale", tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus, where there's smoke, there's fire

King James Bible KJV Bible

Berean Standard Bible BSB Bible

160 KJV and 150 BSB verses contain “darkness” — showing the first 20. Show all 177 verses (searchable)

Genesis 1:2

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Genesis 1:4

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:5

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Genesis 1:18

And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 15:12

And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.

Genesis 15:17

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.

Exodus 10:21

And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”

Exodus 10:22

And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:

So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.

Exodus 14:20

And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

so that it came between the camps of Egypt and Israel. The cloud was there in the darkness, but it lit up the night. So all night long neither camp went near the other.

Exodus 20:21

And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

Deuteronomy 4:11

And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

Deuteronomy 5:22

These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.

The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

Deuteronomy 5:23

And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

And when you heard the voice out of the darkness while the mountain was blazing with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your elders approached me,

Deuteronomy 28:29

And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.

Joshua 24:7

And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.

So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

1 Samuel 2:9

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

2 Samuel 22:10

He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.

2 Samuel 22:12

And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

He made darkness a canopy around Him, a gathering of water and thick clouds.

2 Samuel 22:29

For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

For You, O LORD, are my lamp; the LORD lights up my darkness.

1 Kings 8:12

Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.