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Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
black (adjective)
1.
a) of the color black
b) (1) very dark in color - his face was black with rage
(2) having a very deep or low register - a bass with a black voice
(3) - heavy serious the play was a black intrigue
2.
a) having dark skin, hair, and eyes - swarthy the black Irish
b) (1) often capitalized of or relating to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin - black Americans
(2) of or relating to the African-American people or their culture - black literature a black college black pride black studies
(3) typical or representative of the most readily perceived characteristics of black culture - trying to sound black tried to play blacker jazz
3.
dressed in black
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) thoroughly sinister or evil - wicked a black deed
b) indicative of condemnation or discredit - got a black mark for being late
7.
connected with or invoking the supernatural and especially the devil - black magic
8.
a) very sad, gloomy, or calamitous - black despair
b) marked by the occurrence of disaster - black Friday
9.
characterized by hostility or angry discontent - sullen black resentment filled his heart
10.
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
11.
a) of propaganda conducted so as to appear to originate within an enemy country and designed to weaken enemy morale
b) characterized by or connected with the use of black propaganda - black radio
12.
characterized by grim, distorted, or grotesque satire - black humor
13.
of or relating to covert intelligence operations - black government programs
black (noun)
1.
a black pigment or dye , especially one consisting largely of carbon
2.
the achromatic color of least lightness characteristically perceived to belong to objects that neither reflect nor transmit light
3.
something that is black as
a) black clothing - looks good in black
b) a black animal (as a horse)
4.
a) a person belonging to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin
b) - african-american
5.
the pieces of a dark color in a board game for two players (as chess)
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
black (verb)
intransitive verb
transitive verb
to become black
1.
to make black
2.
chiefly British to declare (as a business or industry) subject to boycott by trade-union members
Black (biographical name)
Hugo LaFayette 1886–1971 Am. jurist & polit.
Black (biographical name)
Sir James Whyte 1924–     British pharmacologist
Black (geographical name)
1.
river 101 (162 ) Louisiana flowing into Red River - miles kilometers E cen S
2.
river 500 (805 ) Asia rising in Yunnan, China & flowing to Red River in Vietnam - miles kilometers SE cen SE N
Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus
black (adjective)
1.
having the color of soot or coal
SYNONIMS:
ebony, pitch-black, pitch-dark, pitchy, raven, sable
RELATED WORDS:
dark, dusky, inky; blackish, brunet ( brunette)
NEAR ANTONYMS:
bright, brilliant, light, pale, palish
white
black (adjective)
2.
causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer
SYNONIMS:
black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich, elegiac ( elegiacal), forlorn, funereal, glum, godforsaken, gray ( grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, solemn, somber ( sombre), sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched
RELATED WORDS:
blue, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, down, droopy, hangdog, inconsolable, low, melancholic, melancholy, mirthless, sad, unhappy, woebegone, woeful; dim, discomfiting, discouraging, disheartening, dismaying, dispiriting, distressful, distressing, upsetting; desperate, hopeless, pessimistic; lamentable, mournful, plaintive, sorrowful; colorless, drab, dull; dour, grim, lowering ( louring), lowery ( loury), menacing, negative, oppressive, threatening
NEAR ANTONYMS:
blithe, blithesome, buoyant, gay, jocund, jolly, joyful, joyous, merry, mirthful; encouraging, hopeful, optimistic; lighthearted, lightsome
bright, cheerful, cheering, cheery, comforting, cordial, festive, friendly, gay, heartwarming, sunshiny
black (adjective)
3.
not conforming to a high moral standard; morally unacceptable
SYNONIMS:
black, dark, evil, immoral, iniquitous, nefarious, rotten, sinful, unethical, unlawful, unrighteous, unsavory, vicious, vile, villainous, wicked, wrong
RELATED WORDS:
base, contemptible, despicable, dirty, disreputable, evil-minded, ignoble, ill, infernal, low, mean, snide, sordid; atrocious, cruel, infamous, nasty; blamable, blameworthy, censurable, objectionable, obscene, offensive, reprehensible; corrupt, debased, debauched, degenerate, depraved, dissolute, libertine, loose, low-minded, perverted, reprobate, scrofulous, sick, unhealthy; cursed ( curst), cussed, defiling, noxious, pernicious, pestilential, ugly, ungodly, unwholesome; banned, barred, condemned, discouraged, forbidden, illegal, interdicted, outlawed, prohibited, proscribed, unauthorized, unclean; disallowed; execrable, lousy, miserable, wretched; errant, erring, fallen, unprincipled, unscrupulous; improper, incorrect, indecent, indecorous, naughty, unbecoming, unseemly, vulgar; dishonest, dishonorable
NEAR ANTONYMS:
elevated, high, high-minded, law-abiding, legitimate, lofty, noble, principled, reputable, scrupulous; allowed, authorized, legal, licensed, permissible, permitted; approved, endorsed ( indorsed), sanctioned; abetted, encouraged, promoted, supported; clean, correct, decent, decorous, exemplary, proper, seemly; blameless, commendable, creditable, guiltless, legitimate; chaste, immaculate, incorruptible, innocent, inoffensive, irreproachable, lily-white, perfect, pure, spotless, squeaky-clean, uncorrupted, unerring, unfallen, unobjectionable, venerable, white, wholesome; esteemed, respected, upstanding, worthy
decent, ethical, good, honest, honorable, just, moral, right, righteous, sublime, upright, virtuous
black (adjective)
4.
not having a light complexion
SYNONIMS:
black, brunet ( brunette), swart, swarthy
NEAR ANTONYMS:
ashen, ashy, pale, palish, pallid, pasty, peaked, peaky, sallow, wan
light
black (adjective)
5.
being without light or without much light
SYNONIMS:
black, caliginous, darkened, darkish, darkling, darksome, dim, dimmed, dusk, dusky, gloomy, lightless, murky, obscure, obscured, pitch-black, pitch-dark, pitchy, rayless, somber ( sombre), stygian, tenebrific, tenebrous, unlit
RELATED WORDS:
crepuscular, twilit; moonless, starless, sunless; cloudy, dull, dulled, lackluster; shadowlike, shadowy, shady; gray ( grey), leaden, pale; beclouded, befogged, clouded, foggy, fuliginous, misty, smoggy, soupy
NEAR ANTONYMS:
ablaze, agleam, aglitter, alight, beaming, beamy, effulgent, glaring, glowing, incandescent, lambent, radiant, relucent, resplendent, shining, sparkling; ultrabright; glossy, lustrous, shiny; floodlit ( floodlighted), highlighted, spotlighted ( spotlit); moonlit, moony, starlit, sunlit
bright, brightened, brilliant, illuminated, illumined, light, lit ( lighted), lightsome, lucent, lucid, luminous
black (adjective)
6.
not clean
SYNONIMS:
bedraggled, befouled, begrimed, bemired, besmirched, black, blackened, cruddy, dingy, draggled, dusty, filthy, foul, grimy, grotty, grubby, grungy, mucky, muddy, nasty, smudged, smutty, soiled, sordid, stained, sullied, unclean, uncleanly
RELATED WORDS:
contaminated, defiled, germy, impure, polluted, tainted; insanitary, uncleaned, unsanitary, unsterile, unsterilized, unwashed; greasy, gunky; chaotic, cluttered, confused, disarranged, disarrayed, disheveled ( dishevelled), disordered, jumbled, littered, messed, messy, muddled, mussed, mussy, rumpled, scruffy, sloppy, slovenly, unkempt, untidy; raunchy, scuzzy [], shabby, skanky [], sleazy, squalid; collied [], crocked [], fuliginous, sooty
NEAR ANTONYMS:
clear, limpid, pure; cleaned, cleansed, combed, groomed, neat, ordered, orderly, tidy; bleached, purified, whitened; bright, flawless, perfect, shiny, sparkling, unspotted, untouched; taintless, unblemished, undefiled, unpolluted, untainted, virgin, wholesome
clean, cleanly, immaculate, spick-and-span ( spic-and-span), spotless, stainless, ultraclean, unsoiled, unstained, unsullied
black (noun)
a time or place of little or no light
SYNONIMS:
black, blackness, candlelight, darkness, dusk, gloaming, gloom, murk, night, semidarkness, shade, shadows, twilight, umbra
RELATED WORDS:
midnight; blackout, brownout, dimout; shadiness, umbrage; dullness ( dulness), somberness; cloudiness, fogginess, haziness, mistiness, murkiness; dimness, faintness, gloominess, grayness, paleness; half-light
NEAR ANTONYMS:
moonlight, starlight, sunlight; effulgence, radiance, radiancy, shine, sunshine; incandescence, luminance, luminescence, luminosity, luminousness
blaze, brightness, brilliance, day, daylight, glare, glow, light, lightness

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