black

(noun) the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white). Synonyms: blackness, inkiness.

(noun) total absence of light. Synonyms: total darkness, lightlessness, blackness, pitch blackness. Examples: "They fumbled around in total darkness." "In the black of night."

(noun) British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799). Synonyms: Black, Joseph Black.

(noun) popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928). Synonyms: Black, Shirley Temple Black, Shirley Temple.

(noun) a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa). Synonyms: Black, Black person, blackamoor, Negro, Negroid.

(noun) (board games) the darker pieces.

(noun) black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning). Examples: "The widow wore black."

(verb) make or become black. Synonyms: blacken, melanize, melanise, nigrify. Examples: "The smoke blackened the ceiling." "The ceiling blackened."

(adj) being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light. Synonyms: black (vs. white). Examples: "Black leather jackets." "As black as coal." "Rich black soil."

(adj) of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin. Synonyms: black (vs. white). Examples: "A great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization"- martin luther king jr.."

(adj) marked by anger or resentment or hostility. Examples: "Black looks." "Black words."

(adj) offering little or no hope. Synonyms: bleak, dim. 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."

(adj) stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable. Synonyms: dark, sinister. Examples: "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 scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"-thomas hardy."

(adj) (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin. Synonyms: calamitous, disastrous, fatal, fateful. Examples: "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 fatal to my theory"- charles darwin." "It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it"- douglas macarthur." "A fateful error."

(adj) (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood. Synonyms: blackened. Examples: "A face black with fury."

(adj) extremely dark. Synonyms: pitch-black, pitch-dark. Examples: "A black moonless night." "Through the pitch-black woods." "It was pitch-dark in the cellar."

(adj) harshly ironic or sinister. Synonyms: grim, mordant. Examples: "Black humor." "A grim joke." "Grim laughter." "Fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit."

(adj) (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading. Examples: "Black propaganda."

(adj) distributed or sold illicitly. Synonyms: bootleg, black-market, contraband, smuggled. Examples: "The black economy pays no taxes."

(adj) (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame. Synonyms: disgraceful, ignominious, inglorious, opprobrious, shameful. 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 greed." "A shameful display of cowardice."

(adj) (of coffee) without cream or sugar.

(adj) soiled with dirt or soot. Synonyms: smutty. Examples: "With feet black from playing outdoors." "His shirt was black within an hour."