blackness

noun

black·​ness ˈblak-ˌnəs 

1

: the quality or state of being black: such as

a

: black color

Massive pots of oil, shellacked to a profound blackness by seasons of smoke and burnt grease, sit above burning slats of wood that seem to have been salvaged from the wreckage of the last hurricane.

—Pete Wells

b

: darkness

As Kit lay wide awake in the blackness, some distant shouts, a snatch of raucous, unrestrained singing such as she had never heard before in Wethersfield, sent her mind back to the days of her childhood.

—Elizabeth George Speare

c

: a gloomy or somber feeling, tone, or character

"… Think of me at this hour, in a strange place, labouring under a blackness of distress that no fancy can exaggerate …"

—Robert Louis Stevenson

2

or less commonly Blackness

a

: the fact or state of belonging to a population group that has dark pigmentation of the skin : the fact or state of being Black (see black entry 1 sense 2a)

"In those days, racism and discrimination was overt. … people could see my blackness and would react to that. …"

—Annette Nelson

b

: the social and cultural identity and experience of Black people

I, on the other hand, feel it is my blackness (not my skin color so much as the culture that nurtured me) that causes me to open myself, acknowledge my soul and its varied components …

—Alice Walker

… the social construction of blackness, a social construction whose phenotypic reach I could not escape.

—Devon W. Carbado

also : representations or expressions of this (as in art or literature)

… a conversation … exploring Blackness and gender identity within fine art and popular culture.

—Ann Fink

Examples of blackness in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead of gentle concentric circles, gleaming finishes, or a mesmerizing light show, the ProArt P16 meets us with inky blackness. —PCMAG, 13 Oct. 2024

The Mid-Credits Scene — the King in Black The central plot of The Last Dance revolves around Venom trying to stop the creator of the symbiotes, Knull (Andy Serkis), from escaping his celestial prison and returning all of existence to the Void, the blackness that predates the universe. —Richard Newby, Vulture, 25 Oct. 2024

This spacewalk occurred early Thursday, when Isaacman and one of his crewmates, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, opened the Dragon spacecraft's forward hatch, floated through the opening, and peered out into the blackness of space. —Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 13 Sep. 2024

At that altitude, the curvature of the earth and the blackness of outer space are clearly visible. —Ben Coxworth, New Atlas, 24 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English blaknesse, from blak black entry 1 + -nesse -ness

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1