verb · neutral
darken
UK/ˈdɑː.kən/US/ˈdɑːr.kən/DAR·ken
Band 5-6speakingtask2
to make or become less light in colour or brightness
Examples
“The clouds darkened the sky before the storm.”
“She darkened the edges of the photo to draw attention to the centre.”
“As the afternoon progressed, the horizon darkened.”
Band 8 sentence
“As the clouds rolled in, the horizon darkened dramatically, which made the city lights look almost cinematic.”
Collocations
- darken the sky
- darken the mood
- darken a photograph
- darken with age
Word family
darken verb (base)darkens verb (3rd person singular)darkened verb (past / past participle); adjectivedarkening verb (present participle); noun
Common mistakes
The sky was darken.→The sky darkened.
They made the room darken.→They made the room dark.
Say it for a higher band
5make dark→6get/go dark→7+darken
Synonyms
dim
blacken
Easily confused
blacken
“The smoke blackened the walls.”
Related words
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In -en
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