black

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. darkness, midnight, Stygian hue; Negro, African American. —v. t. shine, polish (shoes).

See color, darkness.Ant., white.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Opposite to white]

Syn. dark, blackish, ebony, jet, inky, raven, coal-black, dusky, dingy, murky, inklike, livid, somber, swarthy, swart, pitch-black, black as coal, black as pitch, black as jet, black as night, sooty, raven-hued, sable, somber, gun-metal, flat black, jet black, nigrous, nigrescent, atramentous, ebon-hued, black as the ace of spades*, black as a crow*.

Ant. white*, colored, colorful.

2. [Without light]

Syn. gloomy, shadowy, clouded, pitch-dark; see dark 1 .

3. [Negroid; often capitalized ]

Syn. Negro, African, African-American, colored, dark-skinned, black-skinned, dark-complexioned, Afro-American, Ethiopian, Nubian, Negrito, Melanesian, swarthy, dusky; see also African 2 .

Ant. white, CaucAsian, fair-skinned.

4. [Unpropitious]

Syn. threatening, foreboding, sinister; see ominous .

5. [Angry]

Syn. fierce, enraged, sour; see angry .

6. [Evil]

Syn. villainous, mean, diabolical; see harmful , wicked 1 .

7. [Dirty]

Syn. soiled, stained, dingy; see dirty 1 .

8. [Dismal]

Syn. melancholy, gloomy, somber, pessimistic; see dismal 1 .

n.

1. [A chromatic color least resembling white]

Syn. lampblack, carbon, jet, sable, ebony, darkest gray, charcoal, blackness, darkness.

Ant. white*, blond, brightness.

2. [A Negro; often capitalized ]

Syn. black person, black man, black woman, African-American, person of color, Negro, African, colored person, colored man, colored woman, Afro-American, soul brother, soul sister, blood*; see also Negro .

• in the black,

Syn. successful, lucrative, gainful, operating at a profit; see profitable .

v.

Syn. darken, make black, blacken; see shade 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

1. color ink, jet, raven, carbon, gun-metal, pitch, sable, ebony, tar, soot, coal, coffee, pepper.

2. dark inky, unlit, shadowy, murky, dusky, gloomy.

3. african american, negro, colored, dismal, grim, dreary, somber, forlorn, mournful, funereal.

5. threatening ominous, foreboding, forbidding, menacing.

6. evil wicked, diabolical, satanic, nefarious.

ANT.: 1. white, snowy. 2. sunny, bright, illuminated. 4. cheerful, bright, hopeful. 5. auspicious, favorable. 6. good, angelic, saintly

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I adjective 1. Of the darkest achromatic visual value: ebon, ebony, inky, jet1, jetty, onyx, pitch-black, pitchy, sable, sooty. See COLORS. 2. Having little or no light: dark, pitch-dark. See LIGHT. 3. Covered or stained with or as if with dirt or other impurities: dirty, filthy, grimy, grubby, smutty, soiled, unclean, uncleanly. See CLEAN. 4. Morally objectionable: bad, evil, immoral, iniquitous, peccant, reprobate, sinful, vicious, wicked, wrong. See RIGHT. 5. Dark and depressing: bleak, blue, cheerless, dark, desolate, dismal, dreary, gloomy, glum, joyless, somber, tenebrific. See HAPPY, LIGHT. 6. Characterized by intense ill will or spite: despiteful, evil, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean2, nasty, poisonous, spiteful, venomous, vicious, wicked. Slang: bitchy. See ATTITUDE. II verb To make dirty: befoul, begrime, besmirch, besoil, blacken, defile, dirty, smudge, smutch, soil, sully. See CLEAN.