: having the very dark color of the night sky or the eye's pupil : of the color black (see blackentry 2 sense 2)
a black sweater
a black dog
as black as coal
2
usually Black
a
: of or relating to any of various population groups of especially African ancestry often considered as having dark pigmentation of the skin but in fact having a wide range of skin colors
Black Americans
Note:
Capitalization of Black in this use is now widely established.
b
: of or relating to Black people and often especially to African American people or their culture
Black literature
a Black college
Black pride
Black studies
Note:
Capitalization of Black in this use is now widely established.
: characterized by hostility or angry discontent : sullen
black resentment filled his heart
b
: distorted or darkened by anger
his face was black with rage
10
: having dark skin, hair, and eyes
the black Irish
11
chiefly British: subject to boycott by trade-union members as employing or favoring nonunion workers or as operating under conditions considered unfair by the trade union
a ship that was declared black by the union
12
a
of propaganda: conducted so as to appear to originate within an enemy country and designed to weaken enemy morale
Black propaganda … is the business of going to elaborate ends to spread half-true, misleading or downright false information to get your enemy in trouble.—Everett G. Martin
b
: characterized by or connected with the use of black propaganda
Press reports say that in addition to dropping leaflets over urban areas, messages were broadcast over two "black" radio stations, … both of which were operated by the CIA.—Strategic Intelligence
: a pigment or dye of the color black : a black pigment or dye
especially: one consisting largely of carbon
2
: the achromatic (see achromaticsense 3) color of least lightness characteristically perceived to belong to objects that neither reflect nor transmit light
walls painted in black
3
: something that is black: such as
a
: black clothing
looks good in black
b
: a black animal (such as a horse)
c
baseball: the narrow, black edge of home plate
a pitch on the black[=a pitch that crosses over the very edge of home plate]
4
usually Black
a
: a person belonging to any of various population groups of especially African ancestry often considered as having dark pigmentation of the skin but in fact having a wide range of skin colors
Note:
Capitalization of Black in this use is now widely established.
Note:
Capitalization of Black in this use is now widely established.
Note:
Use of the noun Black in the singular to refer to a person is considered offensive. The plural form Blacks is still commonly used by Black people and others to refer to Black people as a group or community, but the plural form too is increasingly considered offensive, and most style guides advise writers to use Black people rather than Blacks when practical.
5
in board games: the pieces of a dark color in a board game for two players (such as chess)
black moves second
6
: total or nearly total absence of light
the black of night
7
: the condition of making a profit—usually used with the
Adjective
we adopted a little black kitten Noun
The wall was painted in black.
a mixture of grays and blacks
She was dressed in black. Verb
He blacked his boots with polish.
Labor union members have blacked the company.
Recent Examples on the Web
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Adjective
Other nostalgic looks included a daisy-print bikini paired with a denim skirt, chunky black platform sandals, and several shots of Kardashian’s evolving makeup looks, including her iconic smoky eye.—
Madison E. Goldberg,
PEOPLE,
18 Sep. 2026 So Hadid struck a compromise with the weather gods, loading up a simple black minidress with her preferred fall fashions.—
Hannah Jackson,
Vogue,
18 Sep. 2026
Noun
Next, get $400 off the Samsung 65-inch S90H OLED 4K TV, pairing pure inky blacks with fluid visuals.—
Juhi Wadia,
PC Magazine,
10 Sep. 2026 The only Ferrari Enzo to leave the factory finished in matte black will be auctioned off later this month.—
Bryan Hood,
Robb Report,
8 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for black
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English blak, blake, going back to Old English blæc, blac "black, (of other colors) dark," going back to West Germanic *blaka- (whence also Old Saxon blak "ink," Middle Low German black, blak, Middle Dutch blak, Old High German blah- only in compounds, as blahfaro "ink-colored, deep blue"), perhaps adjectival derivative of a verb *blakōn- (whence Middle Dutch & Middle Low German blaken "to burn, scorch"), from a verbal base *blak- (whence also Old High German blecken, blec(c)hen "to flash [of lightning], shine, sparkle" < *blakjan-), o-grade ablaut of Indo-European *bhleg- "shine, be bright" — more at phlegm
Note:
For this etymology to work, the original meaning of *blaka- would have been "burned, scorched," then, by a not implausible shift, "blackened by fire," then simply "black." In Old English, blæc is sometimes spelled blac, which creates potential confusion with blāc "bright, shining, pale, pallid," ordinarily not spelled with any indication of vowel length, and sometimes spelled blæc. In Middle English potential confusion is to some degree increased by lengthening of vowels in open syllables, revealed by such spellings as blaak and blake for blak. Old English blāc emerges in Middle English, in a small number of texts, as blok, though blak(e) is found in some Midland and northern texts. — Presumably related to *blaka- is an adjective *blank- with infixed n—see blank entry 1. In Germanic, alongside *blek-/*blak- there is a semantically similar strong verb with a diphthong *blīk-/*blaik-/*blik- along with an adjective *blaik- "bright," the source of Old English blāc cited above—see bleach entry 1.
Noun
Middle English blak, blake, going back to Old English blæc, derivative of blæcblack entry 1
Verb
Middle English blaken, derivative of blak, blakeblack entry 1
First Known Use
Adjective
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
: a person belonging to any of various population groups especially of African ancestry that are often considered to have dark pigmentation of the skin but in fact have a wide range of skin colors
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