black in English dictionary

  • black

    Meanings and definitions of "black"

    • (of an object) absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and colourless.
    • (of a place, etc) without light.
    • (sometimes capitalize) Relating to persons of (usually noticeable) negroid African descent or their culture. Also people of an Asian, Aborigine or Maori descent.
    • Bad; evil; ill-omened.
    • Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced.
    • (Irish, informal) Overcrowded.
    • (of coffee or tea) Without any cream, milk, or creamer.
    • (board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set, no matter what the actual colour.
    • The colour/color perceived in the absence of light.
    • A black dye, pigment.
    • A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
    • (in the plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.
    • (sometimes capitalised) A person of African descent, or Asian, Aborigine or Maori.
    • (billiards, snooker, pool, with the ) The black ball.
    • (baseball) The edge of home plate
    • (UK) a type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
    • (informal) blackcurrant syrup (in mixed drinks, e.g. snakebite and black, cider and black).
    • To make black, to blacken.
    • To apply blacking to something.
    • (UK) To boycott something or someone, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
    • adjective
      (of an object)
      Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
    • adjective
      (of a place, etc)
      Without light.
    • adjective
      (sometimes capitalized)
      Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.
    • adjective
      (chiefly historical)
      Designated for use by those ethnic groups which have dark pigmentation of the skin.
    • adjective
      (card games, of a card)
      Of the spades or clubs suits. Compare red (“of the hearts of diamonds suit”)
    • adjective
      Bad; evil; ill-omened.
    • adjective
      Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen.
    • adjective
      Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced.
    • adjective
      (Ireland, informal)
      Overcrowded.
    • adjective
      (of coffee or tea)
      Without any cream, milk, or creamer.
    • adjective
      (board games, chess)
      Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess the set used by the player who moves second) ( often regardless of the pieces' actual colour).
    • adjective
      (typography)
      Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color. Compare white (“said of a character or symbol outline, not filled with color”).
    • adjective
      (politics)
      Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.
    • adjective
      Relating to a initiative whose existence or exact nature must remain withheld from the general public.
    • noun
      The colour/color perceived in the absence of light.
    • noun
      A black dye or pigment.
    • noun
      A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
    • noun
      (in the plural)
      Black cloth hung up at funerals.
    • noun
      (sometimes capitalised)
      A person of African, Aborigine, or Maori descent; a dark-skinned person.
    • noun
      (billiards, snooker, pool, with the)
      The black ball.
    • noun
      (baseball)
      The edge of home plate
    • noun
      (Britain)
      a type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
    • noun
      (informal)
      blackcurrant syrup (in mixed drinks, e.g. snakebite and black, cider and black).
    • noun
      In chess and similar games, the person playing with the black set of pieces.
    • noun
      Part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black.
    • noun
      (obsolete)
      A stain; a spot.
    • verb
      To make black, to blacken.
    • verb
      1859, Oliver Optic, Poor and Proud; or, The Fortunes of Katy Redburn, a Story for Young Folks [1]
    • verb
      1911, Edna Ferber, Buttered Side Down [6]
    • verb
      1922, John Galsworthy, A Family Man: In Three Acts [3]
    • verb
      To apply blacking to something.
    • verb
      (Britain)
      To boycott something or someone, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
    • Marked by anger or resentment or hostility.
    • The total absence of light.
    • A person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa).
    • black (colour, color)
    • Of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin.
    • A color (the color of the sky at night and a blackbird's feathers) that is created by the absorption of all light and reflection of none; dark and colorless.
    • absorbing all light
    • without light
    • relating to persons of African descent
    • Bad; evil
    • Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced
    • without milk
    • colour/color
    • dye, pigment
    • pen, pencil, etc
    • person
    • billiards, snooker, pool
    • Dark and colourless; not reflecting visible light.
    • adjective
      being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light; "black leather jackets"; "as black as coal"; "rich black soil"
    • adjective
      distributed or sold illicitly; "the black economy pays no taxes"
    • adjective
      extremely dark; "a black moonless night"; "through the pitch-black woods"; "it was pitch-dark in the cellar"
    • adjective
      harshly ironic or sinister; "black humor"; "a grim joke"; "grim laughter"; "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit"
    • adjective
      marked by anger or resentment or hostility; "black looks"; "black words"
    • adjective
      offering little or no hope; "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"
    • adjective
      (of coffee) without cream or sugar
    • adjective
      (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; 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 fatal to my theory"- Charles Darwin; "it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it"- Douglas MacArthur; "a fateful error"
    • adjective
      (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading; "black propaganda"
    • adjective
      of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African origin; "a great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization"- Martin Luther King Jr.
    • adjective
      (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood; "a face black with fury"
    • adjective
      soiled with dirt or soot; "with feet black from playing outdoors"; "his shirt was black within an hour"
    • adjective
      stemming from evil characteristics or forces; 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 scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"-Thomas Hardy
    • adjective
      (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame; "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"
    • noun
      black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning); "the widow wore black"
    • noun
      (board games) the darker pieces
    • noun
      the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)
    • noun
      total absence of light; "they fumbled around in total darkness"; "in the black of night"
    • verb
      make or become black; "The smoke blackened the ceiling"; "The ceiling blackened"

    Synonyms of "black" in English dictionary

    fatal, illegal, nigrify are the top synonyms of "black" in the English thesaurus.

    Antonyms of "black" in English dictionary

    whiten, white are the top antonyms of "black" in the English thesaurus.

    Grammar and declension of black

    • nieodm.  nieodmienny
    • black ( third-person singular simple present blacks, present participle blacking, simple past and past participle blacked)
    • black ( plural  blacks)
    • black ( comparative blacker, superlative blackest)
    • black (comparative blacker, superlative blackest)
    • black (plural blacks)
    • black (third-person singular simple present blacks, present participle blacking, simple past and past participle blacked)
  • Black

    Meanings and definitions of "black"

    • A surname.
    • adjective
      Alternative letter-case form of [i]black[/i] (of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin)
    • proper
      A surname.
    • The largest left tributary of the Amazon and the largest blackwater river in the world. It has its sources along the watershed between the Orinoco and the Amazon basins, and also connects with the Orinoco by way of the Casiquiare canal. In Colombia, where their sources are, it is called the Guainía River.
    • A person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa).
    • An African-American male.
    • noun
      a person with African ancestry, "Negro" and "Negroid" are archaic and pejorative today
    • noun
      British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)
    • noun
      popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928)

    Synonyms of "black" in English dictionary

    African-American, Negro, Negroid are the top synonyms of "black" in the English thesaurus.

    Grammar and declension of black

    • Black (not comparable)

Images with "black"

Sample sentences with "black"

Available translations

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