blackness

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blackness¹

  • /ˈblæknəs/ US

Rhymes with -æknəs

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English blaknesse, equivalent to black + -ness. Sense 5 most likely both originated from the masque The Masque of Blackness by Ben Jonson and later changed to its current positive sense.

noun blacknesses · Blackness · blacknesse

  1. uncountable, usually The state or quality of being black in colour. The blackness of outer space comes from the lack of anything to reflect light rather than the absence of light.
  2. uncountable, usually Any space that such colour pervades. Out of the blackness came some flickers of light.
  3. figuratively, uncountable, usually Darkness, gloominess; depression.
  4. figuratively, uncountable, usually The quality of being evil or dismal. She had seen so much of the blacker side of human nature that blackness no longer startled her as it should do.
  5. uncountable, usually The state of being of African descent. “Black Panther” is a stunning visual and cultural achievement that takes superhero cinema where it’s never gone before by not being afraid to embrace its blackness.
  6. uncountable, usually The experiences and culture of Black people.

Opposite: blacklessness, whiteness

Blackness²

proper noun

  1. A suburb of Dundee, City of Dundee council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NO3830).
  2. A small coastal village in Falkirk council area, Scotland; a nearby headland is named Black Ness (OS grid ref NT0580).
  3. A hamlet in Westham parish, Wealden district, East Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ6104).
  4. A suburb of Crowborough, Wealden district, East Sussex (OS grid ref TQ5230).

noun

  1. uncountable Alternative letter-case form of blackness (“state of being of African descent; culture of African-Americans”). It is Blackless, hence it shares that very quality, Blacklessness, with Whiteness; and it is Whiteless, hence it shares Whitelessness with Blackness.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: lightlessness, total darkness, dark, night, darkness, obscurity, gloom, nothingness, nil, none, nuit, murk, shadow, dusk, jet, sootiness

noun

Opposite: blacklessness, whiteness

Translations

Every language

noun state or quality of being black

Españolnegror, negrura
Portuguêsnegridão, negrura, negror
Françaisnoirceur
DeutschSchwärze
Italianonerezza
Русскийчернота́ černotá
العربيةسَوَاد sawād

noun result or product

Españolnegror, negrura

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"blackness." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/blackness. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

blackness. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/blackness

Chicago

"blackness." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/blackness.

BibTeX
@misc{blackness_2026,
  title = {blackness},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/blackness},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}