Adjacent Words

Blacken definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BLACK'EN, v.t.
1. To make black.
The importation of slaves that has blackened half America.
2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud.
3. To soil.
4. To sully reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character.
BLACK'EN, v.i. To grow black, or dark.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make or become black; "The smoke blackened the ceiling"; "The ceiling blackened" [syn: blacken, melanize, melanise, nigrify, black] [ant: white, whiten]
2: burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color; "The cook blackened the chicken breast"; "The fire charred the ceiling above the mantelpiece"; "the flames scorched the ceiling" [syn: char, blacken, sear, scorch]

Merriam Webster's

verb (blackened; blackening) Date: 14th century intransitive verb to become dark or black <the sky blackens> transitive verb 1. to make black 2. defame, sully <blackened her reputation> • blackener noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. & intr. make or become black or dark. 2 tr. speak evil of, defame (blacken someone's character).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blacken Black"en, v. i. To grow black or dark.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blacken Black"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blackened; p. pr. & vb. n. Blackening.] [See Black, a., and cf. Black, v. t. ] 1. To make or render black. While the long funerals blacken all the way. --Pope. 2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud. ``Blackened the whole heavens.'' --South. 3. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character. Syn: To denigrate; defame; vilify; slander; calumniate; traduce; malign; asperse.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(blackens, blackening, blackened) 1. To blacken something means to make it black or very dark in colour. Something that blackens becomes black or very dark in colour. The married women of Shitamachi maintained the custom of blackening their teeth... You need to grill the tomatoes until the skins blacken. VERB: V n, V 2. If someone blackens your character, they make other people believe that you are a bad person. They're trying to blacken our name. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Darken, make black. 2. Sully, deface, soil, defile, darken, stain. 3. Vilify, defame, slander, calumniate, asperse, traduce, malign, besmirch, revile, rail at, sneer at, run down, speak ill of. See abuse. II. v. n. Grow black, darken, gloom, lower, threaten.

Moby Thesaurus

abuse, asperse, attaint, bark at, becloud, bedarken, bedaub, bedim, begloom, begrime, berate, besmear, besmirch, besmoke, besmutch, besoil, bespatter, bestain, betongue, black, black out, blackwash, block the light, blot, blot out, blotch, blow upon, blur, brand, brown, call names, cast a shadow, cast aspersions on, censure, charcoal, cloud, cloud over, cork, darken, darken over, daub, defame, defile, denigrate, dim, dim out, dinge, dirty, disapprove, discolor, discredit, disparage, ebonize, eclipse, encloud, encompass with shadow, engage in personalities, execrate, expose, expose to infamy, fulminate against, gibbet, gloom, hang in effigy, heap dirt upon, ink, jaw, libel, load with reproaches, malign, mark, melanize, muckrake, murk, nigrify, obfuscate, obnubilate, obscure, obumbrate, occult, occultate, overcast, overcloud, overshadow, oversmoke, pillory, rag, rail at, rate, rave against, reprimand, revile, scorch, sear, shade, shadow, singe, slander, slubber, slur, smear, smirch, smoke, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, somber, soot, spot, stain, stigmatize, sully, taint, tarnish, throw mud at, thunder against, tongue-lash, traduce, vilify, vituperate, yell at, yelp at