being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light; black leather jackets; as black as coal; rich black soil'

of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin; a great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization- Martin Luther King Jr.

the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)

[ Syn: blackness , inkiness ]

total absence of light; they fumbled around in total darkness; in the black of night

[ Syn: total darkness , lightlessness , blackness , pitch blackness ]

British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)

[ Syn: black , joseph black ]

popular child actress of the 1930s (born in 1928)

[ Syn: black , shirley temple black , shirley temple ]

a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa)

[ Syn: black , black , black person , black person , blackamoor , blackamoor , negro , negro , negroid , negroid ]

(board games) the darker pieces

black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning); the widow wore black'

(of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading; black propaganda'

distributed or sold illicitly; the black economy pays no taxes

[ Syn: bootleg , black-market , contraband , smuggled ]

(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame; Man...has written one of his blackest records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands- Rachel Carson; an ignominious retreat; inglorious defeat; an opprobrious monument to human greed; a shameful display of cowardice

[ Syn: disgraceful , ignominious , inglorious , opprobrious , shameful ]

(of coffee) without cream or sugar

soiled with dirt or soot; with feet black from playing outdoors; his shirt was black within an hour

[ Syn: smutty ]

marked by anger or resentment or hostility; black looks; black words'

offering little or no hope; the future looked black; prospects were bleak; Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult- J.M.Synge; took a dim view of things

[ Syn: bleak , dim ]

stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable; black deeds; a black lie; his black heart has concocted yet another black deed; Darth Vader of the dark side; a dark purpose; dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility; the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him-Thomas Hardy

[ Syn: dark , sinister ]

(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin; the stock market crashed on Black Friday; a calamitous defeat; the battle was a disastrous end to a disastrous campaign; such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory- Charles Darwin; it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it- Douglas MacArthur; a fateful error

[ Syn: calamitous , disastrous , fatal , fateful ]

(of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood; a face black with fury

[ Syn: blackened ]

extremely dark; a black moonless night; through the pitch-black woods; it was pitch-dark in the cellar

[ Syn: pitch-black , pitch-dark ]

harshly ironic or sinister; black humor; a grim joke; grim laughter; fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit

[ Syn: grim , mordant ]

make or become black; The smoke blackened the ceiling; The ceiling blackened

[ Syn: blacken , melanize , melanise , nigrify ]