Meaning & use
go dark
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Meanings
phraseidiominformal
To stop communicating or sharing information, such as a person or organization suddenly staying silent.
Grammar: No object: the account went dark.
Patterns
- go dark on someone
- go dark for a while
He went dark on social media after the scandal.
The spies went dark for three days.
Our contact went dark and stopped answering calls.
phraseidiomspecialist
To close or stop operating, such as a theater, shop or website, often temporarily.
Grammar: Often about theaters and broadcasts.
Patterns
- go dark for the summer
Broadway theaters went dark during the storm.
The station will go dark at midnight for repairs.
The shop goes dark every Monday.
phraseidiom
To lose power or light so that everything becomes dark.
Grammar: Used literally for lights or screens.
Patterns
- the screen goes dark
The city went dark during the blackout.
The screen went dark in the middle of the film.
The stage went dark before the final scene.
Word forms
| third person singular | goes dark |
|---|---|
| past tense | went dark |
| past participle | gone dark |
| -ing form | going dark |
Common combinations
- suddenly go dark
- The channel suddenly went dark.
- go dark on social media
- She went dark on social media for a month.
- theater goes dark
- The theater goes dark on Mondays.
- the lights go dark
- The lights went dark during the storm.
- go dark for the season
- The show will go dark for the season.
Synonyms and how they differ
- go silent
- Go silent means stop communicating but does not suggest hiding, as go dark often does.
- shut down
- Shut down is a formal, general word for closing something.
- go offline
- Go offline is about the internet or a device, whereas go dark covers more situations.
- disappear
- Disappear is wider and suggests going missing.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: go dark or go live?
go dark vs go live
Go live means start broadcasting or operating, the opposite of go dark.
Practice
After the argument, he ____ and stopped replying to any messages.
Choose one answer.
Went dark means stopped communicating. Went live would mean started broadcasting, the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “go dark”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.