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Nefarious vs Dark - What's the difference?

nefarious | dark | Related terms |

Nefarious is a related term of dark.


As adjectives the difference between nefarious and dark

is that nefarious is sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics while dark is having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.

As a noun dark is

a complete or (more often) partial absence of light.

nefarious

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics.
  • * 1828 , , The Red Rover , ch. 2:
    • "If the vessel be no fair-trading slaver, nor a common cruiser of his Majesty, it is as tangible as the best man's reasoning, that she may be neither more nor less than the ship of that nefarious pirate the Red Rover."
  • * 1877 , , The Life of Cicero , ch. 9:
    • Mommsen . . . declares that Catiline in particular was "one of the most nefarious' men in that ' nefarious age. His villanies belong to the criminal records, not to history."
  • * 1921 , , The Indiscretions of Archie , ch. 26:
    • The fact that the room was still in darkness made it obvious that something nefarious was afoot. Plainly there was dirty work in preparation at the cross-roads.
  • * 2009 Oct. 14, Monica Davey, " Fact Checker Finds Falsehoods in Remarks," New York Times (retrieved 12 May 2014):
    • “I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington.”

    Usage notes

    * Commonly used in contexts involving villainous plans, conspiracies, or actions, as in: :* 1909 , , The Lady of the Shroud , book 7: ::: The whole nefarious scheme was one of the "put-up jobs" which are part of the dirty work of a certain order of statecraft.

    Synonyms

    * evil, iniquitous, sinister, underhanded, vile * See also

    Derived terms

    * nefariously * nefariousness

    References

    *

    dark

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
  • :
  • *
  • *:They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark , look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • #(lb) .
  • #:
  • #Deprived of sight; blind.
  • #*(John Evelyn) (1620-1706)
  • #*:He was, I think, at this time quite dark , and so had been for some years.
  • (lb) Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
  • *
  • *:If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
  • Hidden, secret, obscure.
  • *1603-1606 , (William Shakespeare), (King Lear) , i 1
  • *:Meantime we shall express our darker purpose
  • #Not clear to the understanding; not easily through; obscure; mysterious; hidden.
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • #*:What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?
  • #*1594- , (Richard Hooker),
  • #*:What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain.
  • #*(w) (1819-1885)
  • #*:the dark problems of existence
  • # Having racing capability not widely known.
  • Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Left him at large to his own dark designs.
  • Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
  • :
  • * (1800-1859)
  • *:A deep melancholy took possession of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature.
  • *(Washington Irving) (1783-1859)
  • *:There is, in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
  • Lacking progress in science or the arts; said of a time period.
  • *Sir (1614-1669)
  • *:The age wherein he lived was dark , but he / Could not want light who taught the world to see.
  • *(Arthur Hallam) (1811-1833)
  • *:The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediaeval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night.
  • With emphasis placed on the unpleasant aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form or a portion of either.
  • :

    • Synonyms

    * (relative lack of light) dim, gloomy, see also * (sinister or secret) hidden, secret, sinister, see also * (without morals) malign, sinister, see also * (of colour) deep, see also * (conducive to hopelessness) hopeless, negative, pessimistic * (lacking progress) unenlightened

    Antonyms

    * (relative lack of light) bright, light, lit * (of colour) bright, light, pale

    Derived terms

    * dark energy * dark flow * dark-haired * dark horse * dark matter * dark-skinned

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Here stood he in the dark , his sharp sword out.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark , look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • (uncountable) Ignorance.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' dark .
  • * John Locke
    • Till we perceive by our own understandings, we are as much in the dark , and as void of knowledge, as before.
  • (uncountable) Nightfall.
  • A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.
  • * Dryden
    • The lights may serve for a repose to the darks', and the ' darks to the lights.

    Derived terms

    * after dark * all cats are gray in the dark * at dark * bedarken * before dark * Dark Ages * dark blue * dark brown * dark chocolate * dark comedy * Dark Continent * dark current * dark elves * darken * dark energy * darkey * dark fiber * darkfield * dark field * dark figure * darkful * dark glasses * dark horse * dark house * darkish * dark lantern * darkle * dark matter * dark meat * dark nebula * darkness * dark reaction * dark red * darkroom * dark-room * dark room * dark-skinned * dark side * darksome * dark space * dark star * darky * endark * oh dark thirty * pitch-dark * shot in the dark * whistle in the dark

    See also

    * black * shadow

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----