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darkening

darkening

3.4
Becoming less light as evening comes or clouds gather
  • adjective
  • /ˈdɑrkənɪŋ/
translation icon : oscureciendo
  • The room felt more intimate as the darkening shadows crept in with the evening light.

Examples

  • As the sun set, the sky began its darkening transformation into shades of purple and blue.

  • The darkening clouds signaled that a storm was approaching.

  • And honestly, it's like a room darkening canvas.

  • It was the same purple as her dress, but it was inexorably darkening, and her dress was not.

    Fiction book (1991)

Synonyms

to darken
vsdarkening
63 3.3

Make or become less bright, for example a room

is the ongoing process of becoming less bright over time
to blacken
vsdarkening
19 3.4

To make something dark or to become dark, for example walls after a fire

is a milder change to less bright light, not to almost no light
to cloud over
vsdarkening
1 3.4

The sky becomes covered with clouds and looks less bright

is general becoming less bright for any reason, not only sky covering

Antonyms

1 5.0

A change that makes something paler in color

How Dark

blackening
1 4.4
darkening
3.4
dimmed
2.5

Surface Forms

darkening positive

Morphology

darkening = darken (transparent) = dark + en + ing

Standard adjective formation from the verb 'darken' indicating the action of becoming darker.

Etymology

Darkening as an adjective is made from dark ('not light') with -en ('make') and -ing ('becoming'), so it describes something that is getting darker as light fades or clouds gather.