dark‧ness W3 / dɑknəs, dɑknɪs $ dɑrk- / 名词 [不可数名词]

1 when there is no light :

the long hours of darkness during winter

in darkness

The lamp suddenly went out, leaving us in darkness.

total/pitch/complete darkness

The room was in total darkness.

We lit our campfire as darkness fell (= it became night ) .

He stared out the window at the gathering darkness (= the night slowly coming ) .

2 evil or the devil :

His smooth manner covered a heart of darkness.

the forces/powers of darkness (= the devil or evil people )

3 the dark quality of a colour :

the darkness of the lenses

COLLOCATIONS

形容词

complete/total darkness It was late and all the houses in the village were in total darkness.

pitch darkness (= complete darkness ) We ended up coming down the mountain in pitch darkness.

deep/thick darkness literary: All around her was the deep darkness of a winter night.

gathering/growing darkness literary (= night that is slowly coming ) The garden was almost invisible now in the gathering darkness.

动词

darkness falls/comes ( also darkness descends literary ) As darkness fell, rescue workers had to give up the search.

darkness closes in literary (= it becomes darker outside ) The rain turned to snow and darkness closed in.

be plunged into darkness (= be suddenly in darkness because the lights go out ) Suddenly the electricity went off and we were plunged into darkness.

短语

the hours of darkness (= the night ) Desert animals come out during the hours of darkness when its cool.

under cover of darkness (= when darkness makes you less likely to be seen ) The attack was planned to take place under cover of darkness.