1
as in to frown
to take on a gloomy or forbidding look
his face slowly darkened as we told him the sad news
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
3
as in to obscure
to make dark, dim, or indistinct
years of accumulated grime have darkened the painting until it can barely be seen
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in to mar
to affect slightly with something morally bad or undesirable
the scandal darkened his otherwise sterling reputation
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of darken
Dust injected into the atmosphere from the impact darkened the skies within hours, even on the opposite side of the planet.
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Ashley Strickland, CNN, 22 Oct. 2024
As sediment levels drop, the lake's water will continue to darken, allowing more light to penetrate and potentially fostering aquatic life and fishery development.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2024
The camera pulls up above them as the killer leaves Luke floating on his back, coughing up blood and treading water with the pool darkening around him.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2024
Jessica Klein October 30, 2024 7:32 AM EDT Transition lenses typically take around 30 seconds to darken in UV light and a few minutes to go transparent inside.
—Jessica Klein, TIME, 30 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for darken 
Ashley Strickland, CNN, 22 Oct. 2024
As sediment levels drop, the lake's water will continue to darken, allowing more light to penetrate and potentially fostering aquatic life and fishery development.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2024
The camera pulls up above them as the killer leaves Luke floating on his back, coughing up blood and treading water with the pool darkening around him.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2024
Jessica Klein October 30, 2024 7:32 AM EDT Transition lenses typically take around 30 seconds to darken in UV light and a few minutes to go transparent inside.
—Jessica Klein, TIME, 30 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for darken
Recent Examples of Synonyms for darken
Verb
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If a fake time limit is being used, that’s often frowned upon by insiders who would shame those developers undertaking such an unseemly route.Lance Eliot, Forbes, 8 Dec. 2024
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Billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones last month said a swelling national debt under Trump would be frowned upon by the bond market.Bryan Mena, CNN, 22 Nov. 2024
Verb
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The Blackhawks are fading from the public consciousness, and there’s no easy way back.Mark Lazerus, The Athletic, 6 Dec. 2024
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The Republican field hated DeSantis An initial begrudging respect for DeSantis quickly faded once the campaign got underway.Philip Elliott, TIME, 6 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Rasche, somewhat challenging his Succession corporate-hanger-on image, opts for a genial warmth that obscures emotional absence.Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 12 Dec. 2024
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Wedding Bells In August, engagement rumors began swirling when Gomez posted a mirror selfie that seemingly obscured an engagement ring on her finger with some pink love heart emojis.Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 12 Dec. 2024
Verb
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The first talking head in the film is writer and critic Joe Queenan, who speaks simply but movingly of how the Beatles’ music helped dull the pain of an adolescence marred by paternal abuse.Jordan Runtagh, People.com, 6 Dec. 2024
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Among the college football games marred by violence last weekend was Michigan’s 13-10 win over Ohio State.George Ramsay, CNN, 5 Dec. 2024
Verb
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No one gave him a talk on how to react when people stare at him walking through an airport or dropping his head to get through a doorway.Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 8 Dec. 2024
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Doug Brown, director of stewardship at the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, a nonprofit that maintains nearly 14,000 acres of wild land and over 60 miles of trails in this western Massachusetts county, stares into the distant haze, shielding his eyes from the sun.Sophie Ungerleider, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Dec. 2024
Verb
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But the task has been performed so many times that dust and metal from the robot’s fingers have blackened the edges.James Somers, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024
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The fire burned for 64 days, blackening 429,603 acres in Butte and Tehama counties and destroying 709 homes and other structures.Paul Rogers, The Mercury News, 15 Nov. 2024
Verb
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Fleming discussed how luxury products are increasingly being treated as collectible items, similar to limited-edition art pieces, further blurring the lines between art and commercial fashion.Arthur Zaczkiewicz, WWD, 15 Dec. 2024
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Meanwhile, on the ingredient front, peptides are making their way into shampoos, serums, and scalp sprays, blurring the lines between skin care and hair care.Sam Escobar, Allure, 13 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Dodge won't spoil the surprise by confirming if the last one will be based on the Charger or the Challenger (or maybe both), but the evidence suggests the latter is more likely.Jack Fitzgerald, Car and Driver, 13 Feb. 2023
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Farmers’ broiler chickens suffocate, and dairy products spoil.Monica Mark, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Feb. 2023
Thesaurus Entries Near darken
Cite this Entry
“Darken.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/darken. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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