darkness

«darkness» in Mova's school dictionary: when there is little or no light — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (darkness — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Darkness is when there is little or no light. tree →

2) Darkness can also mean evil or sadness in stories. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science darkness is the absence of light: we can only see when light enters our eyes, so in total darkness we see nothing. In stories darkness builds fear or mystery. Phrases: «in darkness», «in the darkness», «total darkness», «the darkness of night».

examples

• The room was in total darkness. tree →
• Owls can hunt in the darkness. tree →
• We waited in the darkness for the fireworks. tree →
• Darkness fell over the town. tree →
• In stories, the hero fights the forces of darkness. tree →
• Some children feel scared of the darkness. tree →
• Cats see better than people in darkness. tree →
• The darkness of night came on. tree →

note

Uncountable. Formed from dark + -ness. Myth: cats cannot see in total darkness; they need at least a little light. Darkness is not a thing that comes in, it is simply the lack of light.

In the corpora

• Pit vipers such as rattlesnakes have heat-sensing pits on their faces that find warm-blooded prey in total darkness.
• The animals rise only at night because darkness hides them from hunters that find food by sight near the surface.
• Sperm whales hunt squid more than a kilometre down in total darkness with clicks that are among the loudest sounds any animal makes.
• Owls and cats see very well in dim light, but no eye can see anything in total darkness.
• Cats see much better than people in dim light, but they cannot see in total darkness.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «darkness» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.