| English Dictionary |
BLACK
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does Black mean?
• BLACK (noun)
The noun BLACK has 7 senses:
1. the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)
2. total absence of light
3. British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)
4. popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928)
5. a person with African ancestry,
6. (board games) the darker pieces
7. black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning)
Familiarity information: BLACK used as a noun is common.
• BLACK (adjective)
The adjective BLACK has 14 senses:
1. being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
2. of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African origin
3. marked by anger or resentment or hostility
4. offering little or no hope
5. stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable
6. (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin
7. (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood
8. extremely dark
9. harshly ironic or sinister
10. (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading
11. distributed or sold illicitly
12. (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
13. (of coffee) without cream or sugar
14. soiled with dirt or soot
Familiarity information: BLACK used as an adjective is familiar.
• BLACK (verb)
The verb BLACK has 1 sense:
1. make or become black
Familiarity information: BLACK used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
The quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
Hypernyms ("black" is a kind of...):
achromatic color; achromatic colour (a color lacking hue; white or grey or black)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "black"):
coal black; ebony; jet black; pitch black; sable; soot black (a very dark black)
Antonym:
white (the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black))
Derivation:
black (make or become black)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Total absence of light
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
black; blackness; lightlessness; pitch blackness; total darkness
Context example:
in the black of night
Hypernyms ("black" is a kind of...):
dark; darkness (absence of light or illumination)
Sense 3
Meaning:
British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
Black; Joseph Black
Instance hypernyms:
chemist (a scientist who specializes in chemistry)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
Black; Shirley Temple; Shirley Temple Black
Instance hypernyms:
actress (a female actor)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A person with African ancestry,
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
African-American; Black; Negro; Negroid
Context example:
Negroid
Hypernyms ("Black" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Black"):
soul brother (a fellow Black man)
picaninny; piccaninny; pickaninny ((ethnic slur) offensive term for a Black child)
Sense 6
Meaning:
(board games) the darker pieces
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("black" is a kind of...):
man; piece (game equipment consisting of an object used in playing certain board games)
Domain category:
checkers; draughts (a checkerboard game for two players who each have 12 pieces; the object is to jump over and so capture the opponent's pieces)
chess; chess game (a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king)
Antonym:
white ((board games) the lighter pieces)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Context example:
the widow wore black
Hypernyms ("black" is a kind of...):
article of clothing; clothing; habiliment; vesture; wear; wearable (a covering designed to be worn on a person's body)
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: blackest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
Context example:
rich black soil
Also:
dark ((used of color) having a dark hue)
Attribute:
value (relative darkness or lightness of a color)
Antonym:
white (being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all incident light)
Derivation:
blackness (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))
Sense 2
Meaning:
Of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African origin
Context example:
a great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization
Similar:
African-American; Afro-American (pertaining to or characteristic of Americans of African ancestry)
colored; coloured; negro (having skin rich in melanin pigments)
Antonym:
white (of or belonging to a racial group having light skin coloration)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Marked by anger or resentment or hostility
Context example:
black words
Similar:
angry (feeling or showing anger)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Offering little or no hope
Synonyms:
Context example:
took a dim view of things
Similar:
hopeless (without hope because there seems to be no possibility of comfort or success)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable
Synonyms:
Context example:
the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him
Similar:
evil (morally bad or wrong)
Sense 6
Meaning:
(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin
Synonyms:
black; calamitous; disastrous; fatal; fateful
Context example:
a fateful error
Similar:
unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)
Sense 7
Meaning:
(of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood
Synonyms:
black; blackened
Context example:
a face black with fury
Similar:
colored; colorful; coloured (having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Extremely dark
Synonyms:
black; pitch-black; pitch-dark
Context example:
it was pitch-dark in the cellar
Similar:
dark (devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black)
Derivation:
blackness (total absence of light)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Harshly ironic or sinister
Synonyms:
Context example:
fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit
Similar:
sarcastic (expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds)
Sense 10
Meaning:
(of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading
Context example:
black propaganda
Similar:
covert (secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Distributed or sold illicitly
Synonyms:
black; black-market; bootleg; contraband; smuggled
Context example:
the black economy pays no taxes
Similar:
illegal (prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules)
Sense 12
Meaning:
(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
Synonyms:
black; disgraceful; ignominious; inglorious; opprobrious; shameful
Context example:
a shameful display of cowardice
Similar:
dishonorable; dishonourable (lacking honor or integrity; deserving dishonor)
Sense 13
Meaning:
(of coffee) without cream or sugar
Similar:
undiluted (not diluted)
Derivation:
blackness (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))
Sense 14
Meaning:
Soiled with dirt or soot
Synonyms:
black; smutty
Context example:
his shirt was black within an hour
Similar:
dirty; soiled; unclean (soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime)
Derivation:
blackness (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it blacks Past simple: blacked
Past participle: blacked
-ing form: blacking
Sense 1
Meaning:
Make or become black
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
black; blacken; melanise; melanize
Context example:
The ceiling blackened
Hypernyms (to "black" is one way to...):
color; colour; discolor; discolour (change color, often in an undesired manner)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
black (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))
Context examples
It may be complete, in which the individual can only perceive black, white, or shades or gray, or incomplete, in which the individual has a residual amount of color vision.
(Achromatopsia, NCI Thesaurus)
The coat is usually black or dark gray, but tan and red are also possible.
(Affenpinscher, NCI Thesaurus)
And yet it would be the blackest treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to me.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
(African American, NCI Thesaurus)
But new research suggests that it might be possible for them to form not around their own sun but instead around a black hole.
(Thousands of Planets Could Be Orbiting around Black Holes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Neutron stars are extremely dense objects formed from the explosion of a star that wasn't massive enough to form a black hole.
(NASA Satellite Spots a Mystery That's Gone in a Flash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
The coat should be tan with black (or dark grizzle) markings.
(Airedale Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)
The presence of homogentisic acid in the urine causes its color to turn black.
(Alkaptonuria, NCI Thesaurus)
A mile away there are black spots upon the snow. The black spots move.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
A chronic lung disorder characterized by deposition of coal dust in the lung parenchyma leading to the formation of black nodules and emphysema.
(Anthracosis, NCI Thesaurus)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
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"He who studies does not waste his time." (Corsican proverb)