Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Darkness

Dark′ness, n. 1. The absence of light; blackness; obscurity; gloom.

And darkness was upon the face of the deep. Gen. i. 2.

2. A state of privacy; secrecy.

What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. Matt. x. 27.

3. A state of ignorance or error, especially on moral or religious subjects; hence, wickedness; impurity.

Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John. iii. 19.

Pursue these sons of darkness: drive them out From all heaven's bounds. Milton.

4. Want of clearness or perspicuity; obscurity; as, the darkness of a subject, or of a discussion.

5. A state of distress or trouble.

A day of clouds and of thick darkness. Joel. ii. 2.

Prince of darkness, the Devil; Satan. "In the power of the Prince of darkness." Locke.

Syn. — Darkness, Dimness, Obscurity, Gloom. Darkness arises from a total, and dimness from a partial, want of light. A thing is obscure when so overclouded or covered as not to be easily perceived. As tha shade or obscurity increases, it deepens into gloom. What is dark is hidden from view; what is obscure is difficult to perceive or penetrate; the eye becomes dim with age; an impending storm fills the atmosphere with gloom. When taken figuratively, these words have a like use; as, the darkness of ignorance; dimness of discernment; obscurity of reasoning; gloom of superstition.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.