darknessとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English derknesse, from 古期英語 deorcnes; equivalent to dark +‎ -ness.

発音

• (英国発音) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑːknəs/
• (米国発音) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑɹknɪs/
• 韻: -ɑː(ɹ)knɪs, -ɑː(ɹ)knəs
• ハイフネーション: dark‧ness

名詞

darkness (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 darknesses)

1. (uncountable) The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light.

   The darkness of the room made it difficult to see.

   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     Over everything was darkness and thick silence, and the smell of dust and sunflowers.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384:

     Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

2. (uncountable) The state or quality of reflecting little light, of tending to a blackish or brownish color.

   The darkness of her skin betrayed her Mediterranean heritage.

3. (uncountable) Gloom; gloominess; depression.
4. (countable) The product of being dark.
5. (uncountable) Lack of understanding or compassion; spiritual or mental blindness.
6. (uncountable) Secrecy; concealment.
7. (uncountable) Lack of knowledge; obscurity or meaning or intelligibility; the unknown.
   • 1899 Feb, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 195:

     It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness.

8. (uncountable) Hell.

反意語

• lightness
• light

派生語

• pitch darkness
• semi-darkness, semidarkness