Meaning & use
darkling
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounliterary
Happening in the dark, or slowly becoming dark.
Grammar: Appears mainly before a noun in poetry: a darkling sky, a darkling plain.
Patterns
- a darkling sky
The poet described the darkling plain as the evening fell.
A darkling sea stretched out beyond the cliffs.
They walked home beneath a darkling sky.
adverbnot comparablearchaicliterary
In the dark; in darkness.
Grammar: Archaic, found mostly in old verse: to wander darkling.
The lost travelers stumbled darkling through the wood.
In the old poem, the hero waits darkling for the dawn.
Common combinations
- darkling sky
- The darkling sky promised a long night.
- darkling plain
- Armies seemed to move across the darkling plain in the poem.
- darkling wood
- They entered the darkling wood with a single lantern.
- darkling shore
- Waves rolled over the darkling shore.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dim
- Dim is an everyday word for weak light, while darkling is poetic and suggests the approach of night.
- shadowy
- Shadowy stresses patches of shade and mystery, whereas darkling stresses growing darkness.
- gloaming
- Gloaming is a poetic noun for twilight, while darkling is an adjective or adverb.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: darkling or darling?
darkling vs darling
Darling means a beloved person. It looks similar to darkling, but they are unrelated in meaning.
Practice
In a poem, a writer describes a 'darkling sky'. What is the sky doing?
Choose one answer.
Darkling means in darkness or becoming dark, so the sky is dimming. It does not mean bright or noisy.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “darkling”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.