Blacken
verb
To make or become black or dark, especially as a result of burning, heating, or damaging.
The fire blackened the walls of the house.
Often appears as...
- blacken the surface
- blacken by fire
verb
To tarnish or harm the reputation of someone or something.
He tried to blacken her good name with false accusations.
Often appears as...
- blacken the reputation
- blacken the name
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To cook (fish or meat) by coating with spices and searing quickly over high heat.
He decided to blacken the salmon for dinner tonight.
Often appears as...
- blacken the fish
- blacken the steak
verb
To make or become black or dark, especially as a result of burning, heating, or damaging.
The fire blackened the walls of the house.
Often appears as...
- blacken the surface
- blacken by fire
verb
To tarnish or harm the reputation of someone or something.
He tried to blacken her good name with false accusations.
Often appears as...
- blacken the reputation
- blacken the name
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To cook (fish or meat) by coating with spices and searing quickly over high heat.
He decided to blacken the salmon for dinner tonight.
Often appears as...
- blacken the fish
- blacken the steak
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Use 'blacken' to describe something turning dark due to physical changes like burning or dirt.
The toast blackened in the toaster.
Pro Tip 2/3No Gradual Shade
'Blacken' suggests a significant change in color, not a gradual darkening.
The paper quickly blackened around the edges.
Pro Tip 3/3Damage Implication
Using 'blacken' often implies damage, not just a change in color.
The firecracker blackened the mailbox.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Use 'blacken' to describe something turning dark due to physical changes like burning or dirt.
The toast blackened in the toaster.
Pro Tip 2/3No Gradual Shade
'Blacken' suggests a significant change in color, not a gradual darkening.
The paper quickly blackened around the edges.
Pro Tip 3/3Damage Implication
Using 'blacken' often implies damage, not just a change in color.
The firecracker blackened the mailbox.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Use 'blacken' to describe something turning dark due to physical changes like burning or dirt.
The toast blackened in the toaster.
Pro Tip 2/3No Gradual Shade
'Blacken' suggests a significant change in color, not a gradual darkening.
The paper quickly blackened around the edges.
Pro Tip 3/3Damage Implication
Using 'blacken' often implies damage, not just a change in color.
The firecracker blackened the mailbox.
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Video examples
Kwame Anthony Appiah: Is...
of such a ceremonial, where the king was involved, and the king's job, one of the large parts of his job, apart from organizing warfare and things like that, was to look after the tombs of his ancestors, and when a king died, the stool that he sat on was blackened and put in the royal ancestral temple,
Video examples
Welcome to the Body Farm...
even like a dead animal it's not like a mouse that's behind your wall that dies I mean it's a it's a pungent sweet smell you never forget it the researchers focus on details that would revolt most people such as blackened skin an important clue in establishing time of
Video examples
Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupil...
or an off-the-grid village like Kgagodi, legs clad in dust stockings whose knees had blackened from years of kneeling and wax-polishing floors, whose shins were marked with lessons from climbing trees, who played until dusk, went in for supper by a paraffin lamp
Video examples
How North America got...
that would blacken the skies and threaten humanity. The Yellowstone supervolcano is just one reminder that the Earth continues to seethe below our feet. Its mobile plates put the planet in a state of constant flux. In another few hundred million years,
Video examples
The colossal consequences...
rayless, and pathless, and the icy Earth swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; morn came and went -- and came, and brought no day." They had no way of knowing that the real source of their misfortunes
Video examples
Earth-Building Wounds PIPE...
vengeance most of the land we stand on was originally created by volcanism like this over centuries the forces of nature turned blackened cinders into weathered rock on which grass can grow life can flourish
Video examples
Fire and Feast PIPE A...
pickings eventually the fuel runs out and the flames die the savannah a scorched and blackened land but the grasses here have evolved with
Video examples
Inside Neil deGrasse...
blackened circular glass plate with holes edged in it those are constellations light comes through these holes gets projected in
Video examples
Why should you read...
“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.”
Video examples
Nature's Mighty Power:...
eventually the fuel runs out and the flames die the savannah a scorched and blackened land
Video examples
Kwame Anthony Appiah: Is...
of such a ceremonial, where the king was involved, and the king's job, one of the large parts of his job, apart from organizing warfare and things like that, was to look after the tombs of his ancestors, and when a king died, the stool that he sat on was blackened and put in the royal ancestral temple,
Video examples
Welcome to the Body Farm...
even like a dead animal it's not like a mouse that's behind your wall that dies I mean it's a it's a pungent sweet smell you never forget it the researchers focus on details that would revolt most people such as blackened skin an important clue in establishing time of
Video examples
Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupil...
or an off-the-grid village like Kgagodi, legs clad in dust stockings whose knees had blackened from years of kneeling and wax-polishing floors, whose shins were marked with lessons from climbing trees, who played until dusk, went in for supper by a paraffin lamp
Video examples
How North America got...
that would blacken the skies and threaten humanity. The Yellowstone supervolcano is just one reminder that the Earth continues to seethe below our feet. Its mobile plates put the planet in a state of constant flux. In another few hundred million years,
Video examples
The colossal consequences...
rayless, and pathless, and the icy Earth swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; morn came and went -- and came, and brought no day." They had no way of knowing that the real source of their misfortunes
Video examples
Earth-Building Wounds PIPE...
vengeance most of the land we stand on was originally created by volcanism like this over centuries the forces of nature turned blackened cinders into weathered rock on which grass can grow life can flourish
Video examples
Fire and Feast PIPE A...
pickings eventually the fuel runs out and the flames die the savannah a scorched and blackened land but the grasses here have evolved with
Video examples
Inside Neil deGrasse...
blackened circular glass plate with holes edged in it those are constellations light comes through these holes gets projected in
Video examples
Why should you read...
“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.”
Video examples
Nature's Mighty Power:...
eventually the fuel runs out and the flames die the savannah a scorched and blackened land
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Lewis Thomas
American Scientist
It is only when you watch the dense mass of thousands of ants, crowded together around the Hill, blackening the ground, that you begin to see the whole beast, and now you observe it thinking, planning, calculating. It is an intelligence, a kind of live computer, with crawling bits for its wits.
Quote examples
Karan Singh Grover
Indian Actor
Saudi had been a very restricted place. Even on the magazines there, if there was a little leg or cleavage showing, they used to blacken it with a black mark. Me and Ishmeet, so many times, had tried to remove the black portion with our spit, but of course, it would never come out.
Quote examples
David Hewson
British Author
Historically, Macbeth is one of the greatest kings Scotland ever had. He was on the throne for 19 years, and he simply has this dreadful reputation because Shakespeare manipulated history for the benefit of James I, who was paying him to write the play to blacken Macbeth's name.
Quote examples
Bernard Beckett
New Zealander Writer
Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear and superstition.
Quote examples
Billy Eckstine
American Musician
As a matter of fact they'd blacken us down. I guess there's a reason that according to what the Caucasian wanted us to look like. He wanted us to look-if we were Black, then he had his idea of what we look like.
Quote examples
Adrian Lewis
English Athlete
When I play under bright lights on TV, the reflection off the dart barrel could be distracting. It's not high-tech stuff but I use the flame from the gas cooker at home to blacken the metal and dull them.
Quote examples
Natasha Bedingfield
British Musician
I love lamb shank. It's my favorite thing. You don't have it in America. It's a younger meat - it just falls off the bone - it's kind of like a roast. I really like blackened cod too.
Quote examples
Paul Stamets
American Scientist
Chaga is one of the weirdest mushrooms you may ever see. A fungal parasite found on birch trees, Chaga is a hardened, blackened, crusty formation that looks like a bursting tumor.
Quote examples
Adlai Stevenson I
American Politician
On the plains of hesitation lie the blackened bones of countless millions who at the dawn of victory lay down to rest, and in resting died.
Quote examples
Leonard Cohen
Canadian Singer
I continually blacken pages and scribble away, so I always have a number of songs that are half-finished.
Quote examples
Lewis Thomas
American Scientist
It is only when you watch the dense mass of thousands of ants, crowded together around the Hill, blackening the ground, that you begin to see the whole beast, and now you observe it thinking, planning, calculating. It is an intelligence, a kind of live computer, with crawling bits for its wits.
Quote examples
Karan Singh Grover
Indian Actor
Saudi had been a very restricted place. Even on the magazines there, if there was a little leg or cleavage showing, they used to blacken it with a black mark. Me and Ishmeet, so many times, had tried to remove the black portion with our spit, but of course, it would never come out.
Quote examples
David Hewson
British Author
Historically, Macbeth is one of the greatest kings Scotland ever had. He was on the throne for 19 years, and he simply has this dreadful reputation because Shakespeare manipulated history for the benefit of James I, who was paying him to write the play to blacken Macbeth's name.
Quote examples
Bernard Beckett
New Zealander Writer
Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear and superstition.
Quote examples
Billy Eckstine
American Musician
As a matter of fact they'd blacken us down. I guess there's a reason that according to what the Caucasian wanted us to look like. He wanted us to look-if we were Black, then he had his idea of what we look like.
Quote examples
Adrian Lewis
English Athlete
When I play under bright lights on TV, the reflection off the dart barrel could be distracting. It's not high-tech stuff but I use the flame from the gas cooker at home to blacken the metal and dull them.
Quote examples
Natasha Bedingfield
British Musician
I love lamb shank. It's my favorite thing. You don't have it in America. It's a younger meat - it just falls off the bone - it's kind of like a roast. I really like blackened cod too.
Quote examples
Paul Stamets
American Scientist
Chaga is one of the weirdest mushrooms you may ever see. A fungal parasite found on birch trees, Chaga is a hardened, blackened, crusty formation that looks like a bursting tumor.
Quote examples
Adlai Stevenson I
American Politician
On the plains of hesitation lie the blackened bones of countless millions who at the dawn of victory lay down to rest, and in resting died.
Quote examples
Leonard Cohen
Canadian Singer
I continually blacken pages and scribble away, so I always have a number of songs that are half-finished.
Example 1 of 10
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