Definition of Black

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

Exact synonyms: Blackness, Inkiness
Generic synonyms: Achromatic Color, Achromatic Colour
Specialized synonyms: Coal Black, Ebony, Jet Black, Pitch Black, Sable, Soot Black
Antonyms: White
Derivative terms: Inky

2. Verb. Make or become black. "The ceiling blackened"
Exact synonyms: Blacken, Melanise, Melanize, Nigrify
Generic synonyms: Color, Colour, Discolor, Discolour
Antonyms: Whiten
Derivative terms: Melanin

3. Adjective. Being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light. "Rich black soil"
Attributes: Value
Also: Dark
Derivative terms: Blackness
Antonyms: White

4. Noun. Total absence of light. "In the black of night"
Exact synonyms: Blackness, Lightlessness, Pitch Blackness, Total Darkness
Generic synonyms: Dark, Darkness
Derivative terms: Lightless, Lightless, Pitch-black

5. Adjective. Of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin. "A great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization"

6. Noun. British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799).
Exact synonyms: Joseph Black
Generic synonyms: Chemist

7. Adjective. Marked by anger or resentment or hostility. "Black words"
Similar to: Angry

8. Noun. Popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928).
Exact synonyms: Shirley Temple, Shirley Temple Black
Generic synonyms: Actress

9. Adjective. Offering little or no hope. "Took a dim view of things"
Exact synonyms: Bleak, Dim
Similar to: Hopeless
Derivative terms: Bleakness

10. Noun. A person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa).

11. Adjective. Stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable. "The scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"
Exact synonyms: Dark, Sinister
Similar to: Evil
Derivative terms: Dark, Darkness

12. Noun. (board games) the darker pieces.
Category relationships: Checkers, Draughts, Chess, Chess Game
Generic synonyms: Man, Piece
Antonyms: White

13. Adjective. (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin. "A fateful error"
Exact synonyms: Calamitous, Disastrous, Fatal, Fateful
Similar to: Unfortunate
Derivative terms: Calamity, Disaster

14. Noun. Black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning). "The widow wore black"

15. Adjective. (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood. "A face black with fury"
Exact synonyms: Blackened
Similar to: Colored, Colorful, Coloured

16. Adjective. Extremely dark. "It was pitch-dark in the cellar"
Exact synonyms: Pitch-black, Pitch-dark
Similar to: Dark
Derivative terms: Blackness, Pitch Blackness

17. Adjective. Harshly ironic or sinister. "Fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit"
Exact synonyms: Grim, Mordant
Similar to: Sarcastic
Derivative terms: Grimness

18. Adjective. (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading. "Black propaganda"
Similar to: Covert

19. Adjective. Distributed or sold illicitly. "The black economy pays no taxes"
Exact synonyms: Black-market, Bootleg, Contraband, Smuggled
Similar to: Illegal
Derivative terms: Contraband

20. Adjective. (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame. "A shameful display of cowardice"

21. Adjective. (of coffee) without cream or sugar.
Similar to: Undiluted
Derivative terms: Blackness

22. Adjective. Soiled with dirt or soot. "His shirt was black within an hour"
Exact synonyms: Smutty
Similar to: Dirty, Soiled, Unclean
Derivative terms: Blackness, Smuttiness

Definition of Black

1. a. Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a color; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes.

2. adv. Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce blackness.

3. n. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black.

4. v. t. To make black; to blacken; to soil; to sully.

Definition of Black

1. Proper noun. (surname from=Middle English) ¹

2. Adjective. (context: of an object) absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and colourless. ¹

3. Adjective. (context: of a place, etc) without light. ¹

4. Adjective. (context: sometimes capitalize) Relating to persons of (usually noticeable) negroid African descent or their culture. Also people of Aborigine or Maori descent. ¹

5. Adjective. Bad; evil; ill-omened. ¹

6. Adjective. Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced. ¹

7. Adjective. (context: Ireland informal) Overcrowded. ¹

8. Adjective. (context: of coffee or tea) Without any cream, milk(,) or creamer. ¹

9. Adjective. (context: 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. ¹

10. Adjective. (context: Germany politics) Related to the Christian Democratic Union. ¹

11. Noun. The colour/color perceived in the absence of light. ¹

12. Noun. A black dye, pigment. ¹

13. Noun. A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment. ¹

14. Noun. (context: in the plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals. ¹

15. Noun. (context: sometimes capitalised) A person of African descent, Aborigine or Maori. ¹

16. Noun. (context: billiards snooker pool with ''the'') The black ball. ¹

17. Noun. (baseball) The edge of home plate ¹

18. Noun. (British) a type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour. ¹

19. Noun. (informal) blackcurrant syrup (in mixed drinks, e.g. snakebite and black, cider and black). ¹

20. Noun. In chess and similar games, the person playing with the black set of pieces. ¹

21. Verb. To make black, to blacken. ¹

22. Verb. To apply blacking to something. ¹

23. Verb. (British) To boycott something or someone, usually as part of an industrial dispute. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Black

1. being of the darkest color [adj BLACKER, BLACKEST] / to make black [v -ED, -ING, -S] - See also: black

Medical Definition of Black

1. 1. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest colour, or rather a destitution of all colour; as, a cloth has a good black. "Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night." (Shak) 2. A black pigment or dye. 3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black colour, or shaded with black; especially. A member or descendant of certain African races. 4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black; pl. Mourning garments of a black colour; funereal drapery. "Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like show death terrible." (Bacon) "That was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers." (Sir T. North) 5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. "The black or sight of the eye." (Sir K. Digby) 6. A stain; a spot; a smooch. "Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust." (Rowley) Black and white, writing or print; as, I must have that statement in black and white. Blue black, a pigment of a blue black colour. Ivory black, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing. Berlin black. See Berlin. 1. Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the colour of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark colour, the opposite of white; characterised by such a colour; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes. "O night, with hue so black!" (Shak) 2. In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the heavens black with clouds. "I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud." (Shak) 3. Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked; cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. "This day's black fate." "Black villainy." "Arise, black vengeance." "Black day." "Black despair." 4. Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen; foreboding; as, to regard one with black looks. Black is often used in self-explaining compound words; as, black-eyed, black-faced, black-haired, black-visaged. Black act, the English statute 9 George I, which makes it a felony to appear armed in any park or warren, etc, or to hunt or steal deer, etc, with the face blackened or disguised. Subsequent acts inflicting heavy penalties for malicious injuries to cattle and machinery have been called black acts. Black angel, the palm cockatoo. See Cockatoo. Black copper. Same as Melaconite. Black currant. An American hawk (Buteo Harlani). Synonym: Dark, murky, pitchy, inky, somber, dusky, gloomy, swart, Cimmerian, ebon, atrocious. Origin: OE. Blak, AS. Blaec; akin to Icel. Blakkr dark, swarthy, Sw. Black ink, Dan. Blaek, OHG. Blach, LG. & D. Blaken to burn with a black smoke. Not akin to AS. Blac, E. Bleak pallid. 98. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Black

blabberer
blabberers
blabbering
blabbermouth
blabbermouthed
blabbermouths
blabbers
blabbier
blabbiest
blabbing
blabbings
blabby
blabs
blaccent
blaccents
black (current term)
black-and-blue
black-and-tan coonhound
black-and-tan terrier
black-and-white
black-and-white television
black-and-white televisions
black-arched moth
black-arched moths
black-backed antshrike
black-backed antshrikes
black-backed gull
black-backed jackal
black-bag
black-bellied plover

Literary usage of Black

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Henry Reeve (1900)
"The most formidable of all the ills which threaten the future existence of the Union arises from the presence of a black population upon its territory; ..."

2. The Complete Works of Gustave Flaubert: Embracing Romances, Travels by Gustave Flaubert, Ferdinand Brunetière (1904)
"At length, the master of the ceremonies, in a black coat in the French fashion and short breeches, with a cloak, cambric mourning-bands, a long sword by his ..."

3. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1908)
"There is no black Dog here," said the doctor, " except what you have on your own back. You have been drinking rum ; you have had a stroke, precisely as I ..."

4. The Intercourse Between the United States and Japan: An Historical Sketch by Inazō Nitobe (1891)
"Thro' a black night of cloud and rain, The black Ship plies her way— An alien thing ... Down in her hold, there labor men Of jet black visage dread; While, ..."

5. Paradise Lost: A Poem in Twelve Books by John Milton (1750)
"... wherein a black bituminous gurge Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell: Of brick, and of that fluff they caft to build A city' and tow'r, ..."

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