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black

/blæk/noun, verb, adjective1 syllable

Black means: (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame.

Synonyms for black61

noun, as in total absence of light

total darkness, lightlessness, blackness, pitch blackness

noun, as in a person with African ancestry, ‘Negro’ and ‘Negroid’ are archaic and pejorative today

African-American, Negro, Negroid

noun, as in popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928)

Shirley Temple Black, Shirley Temple

noun, as in the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)

blackness, inkiness

noun, as in British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)

Joseph Black

verb, as in make or become black

blacken, melanize, melanise

adjective, as in (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame

disgraceful, ignominious, inglorious, opprobrious, shameful, dishonorable, dishonourable

adjective, as in of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African origin

African-American, Afro-American, colored, coloured, negro

adjective, as in (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin

calamitous, disastrous, fatal, fateful, unfortunate

adjective, as in (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood

blackened, colored, coloured, colorful, colourful

adjective, as in distributed or sold illicitly

bootleg, black-market, contraband, smuggled, illegal

adjective, as in soiled with dirt or soot

smutty, dirty, soiled, unclean

adjective, as in offering little or no hope

adjective, as in stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable

adjective, as in extremely dark

pitch-black, pitch-dark, dark

adjective, as in harshly ironic or sinister

grim, mordant, sarcastic

adjective, as in being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light

adjective, as in marked by anger or resentment or hostility

adjective, as in (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading

adjective, as in (of coffee) without cream or sugar

undiluted

also used for black

darken, swarten, blackball, blacklist, boycott, cancel

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Opposites of black

What does black mean?22

adjective

1

(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”

2

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”

3

(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin“the stock market crashed on Black Friday”

4

(of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood“a face black with fury”

5

distributed or sold illicitly“the black economy pays no taxes”

6

soiled with dirt or soot“with feet black from playing outdoors”

7

offering little or no hope“the future looked black”

8

stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable“black deeds”

9

extremely dark“a black moonless night”

10

harshly ironic or sinister“black humor”

11

being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light“black leather jackets”

12

marked by anger or resentment or hostility“black looks”

13

(of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading“black propaganda”

14

(of coffee) without cream or sugar

noun

1

total absence of light“they fumbled around in total darkness”

2

a person with African ancestry, ‘Negro’ and ‘Negroid’ are archaic and pejorative today

3

popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928)

4

the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)

5

British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)

6

(board games) the darker pieces

7

black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning)“the widow wore black”

verb

1

make or become black“The smoke blackened the ceiling”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

What rhymes with black?32

Show 40 near rhymes

All 32 rhymes for black, grouped by syllable

Black in a sentence

  • After a while, the little black rabbit sat down, and looked very sad.unknown
  • You have a choice of black tea, coffee, or milk.Barbiche0
  • Don't get smart with me, or you'll get a black eye!unknown
  • We have three cats, a black one and two white ones.shekitten
  • We have two cats; one is white, and the other is black.ConqueRRoR
  • We have three dogs, one white and two black.Eldad
  • Real change for most black people, however, was very slow in coming.unknown
  • It was the tall man in the long, black coat.unknown

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of black

as a noun

plural
blacks

as a verb

past tense
blacked
present participle
blacking
third-person singular
blacks
past participle
blacked

as a adjective

comparative
blacker
superlative
blackest