black

1 of 3

adjective

ˈblak 

1

: having the very dark color of the night sky or the eye's pupil : of the color black (see black entry 2 sense 2)

a black sweater

a black dog

as black as coal

2

Black or less commonly black

a

: of or relating to any of various population groups of especially African ancestry often considered as having dark pigmentation of the skin but in fact having a wide range of skin colors

Black Americans

Note: Capitalization of Black in this use is now widely established.

b

: of or relating to Black people and often especially to African American people or their culture

Black literature

a Black college

Black pride

Black studies

Note: Capitalization of Black in this use is now widely established.

3

: dressed in black (see black entry 2 sense 2)

playing for the black team

4

: dirty, soiled

hands black with grime

5

a

: characterized by the absence of light

a black night

b

: reflecting or transmitting little or no light

black water

c

: served without milk or cream

black coffee

6

a

old-fashioned + literary : thoroughly sinister or evil : wicked

When the King heard of this black deed, in his grief and rage he denounced relentless war against his Barons …

—Charles Dickens

b

: indicative of condemnation or discredit

got a black mark for being late

c

: heavy, serious

the play was a black intrigue

7

: connected with or invoking the supernatural and especially the devil

black magic

the black arts

8

a

: very sad, gloomy, or calamitous

black despair

b

: marked by the occurrence of disaster

black Friday

9

a

: characterized by hostility or angry discontent : sullen

black resentment filled his heart

b

: distorted or darkened by anger

his face was black with rage

10

: having dark skin, hair, and eyes

the black Irish

11

chiefly British : subject to boycott by trade-union members as employing or favoring nonunion workers or as operating under conditions considered unfair by the trade union

a ship that was declared black by the union

12

a

of propaganda : conducted so as to appear to originate within an enemy country and designed to weaken enemy morale

Black propaganda … is the business of going to elaborate ends to spread half-true, misleading or downright false information to get your enemy in trouble.

—Everett G. Martin

b

: characterized by or connected with the use of black propaganda

Press reports say that in addition to dropping leaflets over urban areas, messages were broadcast over two "black" radio stations, … both of which were operated by the CIA.

—Strategic Intelligence

13

: characterized by grim, distorted, or grotesque satire

black humor

14

: of or relating to covert intelligence operations

black government programs

15

: having a very deep or low register (see register entry 1 sense 4b)

a bass with a black voice

blackish

ˈbla-kish 

adjective

blackly adverb

black

2 of 3

noun

1

: a pigment or dye of the color black : a black pigment or dye

especially : one consisting largely of carbon

2

: the achromatic (see achromatic sense 3) color of least lightness characteristically perceived to belong to objects that neither reflect nor transmit light

walls painted in black

3

: something that is black: such as

a

: black clothing

looks good in black

b

: a black animal (such as a horse)

c

baseball : the narrow, black edge of home plate

a pitch on the black [=a pitch that crosses over the very edge of home plate]

4

Black or less commonly black

a

: a person belonging to any of various population groups of especially African ancestry often considered as having dark pigmentation of the skin but in fact having a wide range of skin colors

Note: Capitalization of Black in this use is now widely established.

b

: african american

Note: Capitalization of Black in this use is now widely established.

Note: Use of the noun Black in the singular to refer to a person is considered offensive. The plural form Blacks is still commonly used by Black people and others to refer to Black people as a group or community, but the plural form too is increasingly considered offensive, and most style guides advise writers to use Black people rather than Blacks when practical.

5

in board games : the pieces of a dark color in a board game for two players (such as chess)

black moves second

6

: total or nearly total absence of light

the black of night

7

: the condition of making a profit

—usually used with the

operating in the black

compare red sense 6

black

3 of 3

verb

blacked; blacking; blacks

intransitive verb

: to become black (see black entry 1) : blacken

As she leaned against the stone cross … , the sky blacked with clouds.

—Hugh Coleman Davidson

transitive verb

1

: to make black

blacked his boots

2

chiefly British : to declare (something, such as a business or industry) subject to boycott by trade-union members

Synonyms

Adjective

• ebony
• pitch-black
• pitch-dark
• pitchy
• raven
• sable

Noun

• blackness
• candlelight
• dark
• darkness
• dusk
• gloaming
• gloom
• murk
• night
• semidarkness
• shade
• shadows
• twilight
• umbra

Examples of black in a Sentence

Adjective

we adopted a little black kitten

Noun

The wall was painted in black.

a mixture of grays and blacks

She was dressed in black.

Verb

He blacked his boots with polish.

Labor union members have blacked the company.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

The black line on the map above indicates the approximate fire perimeter. —Bay Area News Group, The Mercury News, 8 Nov. 2024

Unlike distinctly red ladybugs, these beetles are more orange or black. —Maia Pandey, Journal Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2024

Noun

Take your pick from black to mocha to crisp, winter white. —Taylor Jean Stephan, Peoplemag, 31 Jan. 2023

Flaunt this fun, floral style, or opt for their best-selling classic black. —Meg Donohue, Town & Country, 31 Jan. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English blak, blake, going back to Old English blæc, blac "black, (of other colors) dark," going back to West Germanic *blaka- (whence also Old Saxon blak "ink," Middle Low German black, blak, Middle Dutch blak, Old High German blah- only in compounds, as blahfaro "ink-colored, deep blue"), perhaps adjectival derivative of a verb *blakōn- (whence Middle Dutch & Middle Low German blaken "to burn, scorch"), from a verbal base *blak- (whence also Old High German blecken, blec(c)hen "to flash [of lightning], shine, sparkle" < *blakjan-), o-grade ablaut of Indo-European *b^hleg- "shine, be bright" — more at phlegm

Note: For this etymology to work, the original meaning of *blaka- would have been "burned, scorched," then, by a not implausible shift, "blackened by fire," then simply "black." In Old English, blæc is sometimes spelled blac, which creates potential confusion with blāc "bright, shining, pale, pallid," ordinarily not spelled with any indication of vowel length, and sometimes spelled blæc. In Middle English potential confusion is to some degree increased by lengthening of vowels in open syllables, revealed by such spellings as blaak and blake for blak. Old English blāc emerges in Middle English, in a small number of texts, as blok, though blak(e) is found in some Midland and northern texts. — Presumably related to *blaka- is an adjective *blank- with infixed n—see blank entry 1. In Germanic, alongside *blek-/*blak- there is a semantically similar strong verb with a diphthong *blīk-/*blaik-/*blik- along with an adjective *blaik- "bright," the source of Old English blāc cited above—see bleach entry 1.

Noun

Middle English blak, blake, going back to Old English blæc, derivative of blæc black entry 1

Verb

Middle English blaken, derivative of blak, blake black entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Phrases Containing black

• as black/dark as pitch
• black alder
• black-and-blue
• black and tan
• black-and-tan coonhound
• black and white
• black art
• black-a-vised
• black bass
• black bean
• black bear
• black belt
• black bile
• black birch
• black book
• black box
• black-capped
• black carp
• black cherry
• black cod
• black code
• black cohosh
• black cohosh root
• black crappie
• black-crowned night heron
• black currant
• black damp
• black death
• black diamond
• black duck
• black dwarf
• black excellence
• black eye
• black-eyed bean
• black-eyed pea
• black-eyed Susan
• black flag
• black-footed albatross
• black-footed ferret
• black gold
• black grouse
• black gum
• black hand
• black hat
• black hole
• black ice
• black-legged tick
• black letter
• black light
• black locust
• black lung
• black magic
• black mark
• black market
• black marketeer
• black nationalist
• black-on-black
• black out
• black pepper
• black powder
• black power
• black pudding
• black racer
• black raspberry
• black rat snake
• black rhinoceros
• black rot
• black salmon
• black sheep
• black smoker
• black snake
• black spot
• black spruce
• black swallowtail
• black-tailed deer
• black tea
• black tie
• black-tipped shark
• black walnut
• black widow
• bone black
• carbon black
• fade to black
• in black and white
• in the black
• ivory black
• jet-black
• non-black
• on the black
• pitch-black
• slate black
• the black arts
• the black death
• Welsh black

Kids Definition

black

1 of 3 adjective

ˈblak 

1

a

: of the color black

b

: very dark

2

capitalized

a

: of or relating to any of various population groups that are often considered to have dark skin but that in fact have a wide range of skin colors

Black people

b

: of or relating to Black people and especially to African American people and their culture

Black literature

3

a

: very sad or gloomy

the outlook was black

b

: sullen sense 1a

c

: evil entry 1 sense 1, wicked

a black deed

—used in the past especially in literature

4

: characterized by grim or distorted humor

blackish

-ish 

adjective

blackly adverb

blackness noun

black

2 of 3 noun

1

: a black pigment or dye

especially : one consisting largely of carbon

2

: the characteristic color of soot or coal

3

: black clothing

dressed in black

4

: a black animal (as a horse)

5

capitalized

a

: a person belonging to any of various population groups especially of African ancestry that are often considered to have dark pigmentation of the skin but in fact have a wide range of skin colors

b

: African American

6

: absence of light : darkness

the black of night

7

: the condition of making a profit

in the black

black

3 of 3 verb

: blacken sense 1

Geographical Definition

Black

geographical name

1

river 101 miles (162 kilometers) long in east central Louisiana flowing south into the Red River

2

or in China Amo

ˈä-ˈmō 

or in Vietnam Da

ˈdä 

river 500 miles (805 kilometers) long in southeastern Asia rising in central Yunnan, China, and flowing southeast to the Red River in northern Vietnam

Biographical Definition

Black 1 of 2

biographical name (1)

ˈblak 

Hugo LaFayette 1886–1971 American jurist and politician

Black

2 of 2

biographical name (2)

Sir James Whyte 1924–2010 British pharmacologist