1. being a color that lacks hue and brightness and absorbs light without reflecting any of the rays composing it: They labeled the boxes with a black permanent marker.
2. characterized by absence of light; enveloped in darkness: a black night.
3. soiled or stained with dirt: That shirt was black within an hour.
4. gloomy; pessimistic; dismal: a black outlook.
5. deliberately harmful; inexcusable: a black lie.
6. boding ill; sullen or hostile; threatening: black words;black looks.
7. (of coffee or tea) without milk or cream: I take my coffee black.
8. without any moral quality or goodness; evil; wicked: His black heart has concocted yet another black deed.
9. indicating censure, disgrace, or liability to punishment: a black mark on one's record.
10. marked by disaster or misfortune: black areas of drought; Black Friday.
11. wearing black or dark clothing or armor: the black prince.
12. based on the grotesque, morbid, or unpleasant aspects of life: black comedy;black humor.
13. (of a check mark, flag, etc.) done or written in black to indicate, as on a list, that which is undesirable, substandard, potentially dangerous, etc.: Pilots put a black flag next to the ten most dangerous airports.
14. illegal or underground: The black economy pays no taxes.
15. showing a profit; not showing any losses: the first black quarter in two years.
16. deliberately false or intentionally misleading: black propaganda.
17. boycotted, as certain goods or products by a trade union.
18. (of steel) in the form in which it comes from the rolling mill or forge; unfinished.

19. the color at one extreme end of the scale of grays, opposite to white, absorbing all light incident upon it.
20. black clothing, especially as a sign of mourning: He wore black at the funeral.
21. the dark-colored men or pieces or squares.
22. black pigment: lamp black.
23. black beauty.
24. a horse or other animal that is entirely black.

25. to make black; put black on; blacken.
26. to boycott or ban.
27. to polish (shoes, boots, etc.) with blacking.

28. to become black; take on a black color; blacken.

29. (of coffee or tea) served without milk or cream.

30. black out,
• to lose consciousness: He blacked out at the sight of blood.
• to erase, obliterate, or suppress: News reports were blacked out.
• to forget everything relating to a particular event, person, etc.: When it came to his war experiences he blacked out completely.
• to extinguish all of the stage lights.
• to make or become inoperable: to black out the radio broadcasts from the U.S.
• to obscure by concealing all light in defense against air raids.
• to impose a broadcast blackout on (an area).
• to withdraw or cancel (a special fare, sale, discount, etc.) for a designated period: The special airfare discount will be blacked out by the airlines over the holiday weekend.

31. black and white,
• print or writing: I want that agreement in black and white.
• a monochromatic picture done with black and white only.
• a chocolate soda containing vanilla ice cream.
• a highly recognizable police car, used to patrol a community.
32. completely either one way or another, without any intermediate state.
33. operating at a profit or being out of debt (opposed to in the red): New production methods put the company in the black.

• relating or belonging to any of the various human populations characterized by dark skin pigmentation, specifically the dark-skinned peoples of Africa, Oceania, and Australia.
• relating to or noting the descendants of these populations, without regard for the lightness or darkness of skin tone.
• African American: The exhibit featured the work of young Black artists from New York.

2. Often Offensive. (Use as a noun in reference to a person, e.g., “a Black,” is often considered offensive.)
• a member of any of various dark-skinned peoples, especially those of Africa, Oceania, and Australia.
• African American.

1. U.S. political official: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1937–71.
2. English pharmacologist: Nobel Prize 1988.
3. Scottish physician and chemist.
4. Temple, Shirley.

1. of the colour of jet or carbon black, having no hue due to the absorption of all or nearly all incident light
2. without light; completely dark
3. without hope or alleviation; gloomy
4. very dirty or soiled
5. angry or resentful
6. (of a play or other work) dealing with the unpleasant realities of life, esp in a pessimistic or macabre manner
7. (of coffee or tea) without milk or cream
8. causing, resulting from, or showing great misfortune
• wicked or harmful
• (in combination)
10. causing or deserving dishonour or censure
11. (of the face) purple, as from suffocation
12. (of goods, jobs, works, etc) being subject to boycott by trade unionists, esp in support of industrial action elsewhere

13. a black colour
14. a dye or pigment of or producing this colour
15. black clothing, worn esp as a sign of mourning
16. chess draughts
• a black or dark-coloured piece or square
• the player playing with such pieces
17. complete darkness
18. a black ball in snooker, etc
19. (in roulette and other gambling games) one of two colours on which players may place even bets, the other being red
20. in credit or without debt
21. a black ring on a target, between the outer and the blue, scoring three points

22. another word for blacken
23. to polish (shoes, etc) with blacking
24. to bruise so as to make black
25. (of trade unionists) to organize a boycott of (specified goods, jobs, work, etc), esp in support of industrial action elsewhere

1. a member of a human population having dark pigmentation of the skin

2. of or relating to a Black person or Black people

1. Sir James (Whyte). 1924–2010, British biochemist. He discovered beta-blockers and drugs for peptic ulcers: Nobel prize for physiology or medicine 1988
2. Joseph . 1728–99, Scottish physician and chemist, noted for his pioneering work on carbon dioxide and heat

More Definitions

• SPERMATIC FLUID (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples
• BROMINE PENTAFLUORIDE (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples
• CHAPERONE (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples
• PLANTAR REFLEX (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples
• CROSS-PLY (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples
• SEQQ. (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples