blackness

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   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. 2
   noun

   Any space that such colour pervades.

   Out of the blackness came some flickers of light.

3. 3
   noun

   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.

4. 4
   noun

   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.

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.

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