blackens

present tense third-person singular of blacken
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as in fades
to grow dark the auditorium blackened suddenly, and a spotlighted performer appeared alone on stage

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of blackens As the salmon blackens in a skillet, the spices awaken, encrusting the fish in peppery piquant. The Bon Appétit, Bon Appetit Magazine, 10 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for blackens
Verb
  • When that protective finish gets damaged, the toilet actually stains easier and is harder to keep clean over time.
    Ashlyn Needham, Southern Living, 24 May 2026
  • What Sacks doesn’t get is that by financing and diplomatically supporting Israel, our country makes the crimes of the Israeli government possible, which stains America’s reputation in the world and drains our Treasury.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 27 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • This chilling, starkly beautiful ambient piece draws Nebraska’s marginal whispers to the forefront and smears them across the picture plane.
    Sasha Geffen, Pitchfork, 10 Mar. 2026
  • The five pieces offer, in turn, biomorphic hints of de Kooning, the ragged shapes of Clyfford Still, the bold geometries of Ellsworth Kelly, the paint smears of Gerhard Richter, and something that looks like toothpaste squeezed onto an orange peel.
    Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Verb
  • Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until mixture darkens slightly, about 3 minutes.
    Shilpa Uskokovic, Bon Appetit Magazine, 15 June 2026
  • Citizen scientists are invited to build their own instrument to measure changes that occur in the atmosphere when the sky momentarily darkens.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 6 June 2026
Verb
  • The adventurous actress dirties up her frock and face to play the village pariah, who reeks of fish and would be no man’s idea of a suitable wife, except perhaps the one-eyed bum who sleeps in the town square.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 26 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Diomande just humiliates fullbacks.
    Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 12 June 2026
  • Incompetent leadership humiliates us on the global stage.
    Lucas Robinson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2026
Verb
  • The study argues that such indirect language obscures a subject’s right to refuse a search and could violate their Fourth Amendment rights.
    Robert Salonga, Mercury News, 17 June 2026
  • The focus on the regime changes inflicted on the Arab world and the Middle East at large obscures the routine violence inflicted on its people.
    Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 15 June 2026
Verb
  • In its first go-round, Beef was ripe with curiosity about first-gen immigrant families and how the fear of leaving home stagnates and sullies us.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026
  • For all the ways Disney’s move sullies it with creatives in Hollywood, OpenAI’s new partner does the opposite — gives it massive cred in Silicon Valley.
    Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 12 Dec. 2025
Verb
  • In it, Kennedy maligns germ theory as a tool of pharmaceutical companies, scientists, and doctors to promote the use of modern medicines.
    Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 23 Apr. 2026
  • In its weekly online newsletter, which reaches and inspires jihadists across the globe, the group routinely maligns Shara and the new government and calls for soldiers in the Syrian military to defect.
    Caroline Rose, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Blackens.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blackens. Accessed 28 Jun. 2026.

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