Definition

Noun: * Complete absence of light: A state where there is no light whatsoever; absolute darkness.

Usage

"Total darkness" is used to describe an environment where no light can be seen. It emphasizes a complete and often profound lack of illumination.

Examples

• The power outage plunged the entire city into total darkness.
• To see the stars clearly, you need to find a place of total darkness, far from any city lights.
• The cave was so deep that we experienced total darkness after just a few steps inside.

Advanced Usage

• "in total darkness": This is the most common prepositional phrase used with the term.
  • The explorers moved cautiously in total darkness, relying only on their sense of touch.

Variants and Related Words

• Darkness (n): The partial or complete absence of light. ("Total darkness" is an intensified form of "darkness".)
• Pitch-black (adj): Completely dark.
  • The room was pitch-black.
• Lightless (adj): Giving off or containing no light.
  • A lightless corridor.

Synonyms

• Blackness: The quality or state of being black; deep darkness.
• Pitch blackness: Intense, complete darkness.
• Cimmerian darkness: (Literary) Intense darkness. (From Greek mythology, referring to a people living in perpetual darkness.)
• Lightlessness: The state of having no light.

Related Phrases

• The black of night: A poetic or descriptive phrase for the darkest part of the night.
  • He vanished into the black of night.

Noun

1. total absence of light
   • they fumbled around in total darkness
   • in the black of night