Link Centre Dictionary

darken

dar·ken

UK/ˈdɑːkən/ US/ˈdɑɹkən/ uncommon

verb

1.

become dark or darker

  • “The sky darkened”
Antonyms
2.

become or make darker

  • “The screen darkend”
  • “He darkened the colors by adding brown”
Synonyms
Antonyms
3.

tarnish or stain

  • “a scandal that darkened the family”
4.

make dark or darker

  • “darken a room”
Antonyms

Origin

From Middle English derkenen, dirkenen, from Old English *deorcnian, *diercnian (“to darken”), from Proto-West Germanic *dirkinōn (“to darken”), equivalent to dark + -en. Cognate with Scots derken, durken (“to darken”), Old High German tarchanjan, terchinen (“to darken”), Middle High German terken, derken (“to darken”).

Phrases

  • darken a church door
  • darken down
  • darken someone's door
  • darken someone's doorstep
  • darken someone's doorway
  • darken up

Related words

Word family

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.