Black


Synonyms for black
adj dark, inky

jet
slate
onyx
coal
sable
pitch
brunet
ebony

clouded
dingy
dusky
livid
murky
shadowy
somber
sooty

swarthy
charcoal
sloe
obsidian
raven
atramentous
ebon
inklike

melanoid
piceous
pitch-dark
sombre
starless
stygian
swart

Antonyms for black

white
hopeful

optimistic
clean

happy
good

Synonyms
adj hopeless

distressing
foreboding
threatening
depressing
dispiriting
atrocious

bleak
dismal
doleful
dreary
funereal
gloomy

horrible
lugubrious
mournful
ominous
oppressive
sad

sinister
depressive
sombre

Antonyms

white
hopeful

optimistic
clean

happy
good

Synonyms
adj dirty

spotted
grubby
foul
dingy

filthy
grimy
impure
nasty

sooty
squalid
unclean
uncleanly

stained
soiled

Antonyms

white
clean

hopeful
optimistic

happy
good

Synonyms
adj angry

menacing
enraged
sour

threatening
hostile
fierce

furious
sullen
resentful

Antonyms

pleasant
friendly
white

nice
hopeful
optimistic

clean
happy
good

Synonyms
adj evil

bad
mean

diabolical
iniquitous

nefarious
villainous

wicked

Antonyms

white
hopeful

optimistic
clean

happy
good

Synonyms
noun african-american

Afro-American

Negro

African

Antonyms

white

Caucasian

Usage Notes

Black, colored, and Negro—words that describe or name the dark-skinned peoples of sub-Saharan Africa and their descendants—have had a complex social history in the United States. A term that was once acceptable may now be offensive, and one that was once offensive may now be acceptable. Colored, for example, first used in colonial North America, was an appropriate referential term until the 1920s, when it was supplanted by Negro. Now colored is perceived not only as old-fashioned but offensive. It survives primarily in the name of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization formed when the word was not considered derogatory. Describing someone as “a person of color,” however, is not offensive. That term, an inclusive one that can refer to anyone who is not white, is frequently used by members of the African American community. Negro remained the overwhelming term of choice until the mid-1960s. That decade saw a burgeoning civil-rights movement, which furthered a sense that Negro was contaminated by its long association with discrimination as well as its closeness to the disparaging and deeply offensive n-word. The emergence of the black power movement fostered the emergence of black as a primary descriptive term, as in “black pride.” By the mid-1970s black had become common within and outside the black community. But Negro has not entirely disappeared. It remains in the names of such organizations as the United Negro College Fund, people still refer to Negro spirituals, and some older people of color continue to identify with the term they have known since childhood. Negro then, while not offensive in established or historical contexts, is now looked upon in contemporary speech and writing as not only antiquated but highly likely to offend. Black remains perhaps the single most widely used term today. It has outlived the briefly popular Afro-American and, when used as an adjective, is unlikely to cause negative reactions. As a noun, however, when referring to African Americans, it does often offend—perhaps because references to “the blacks” or “a black” lead easily to misguided generalizations. But note the newer term. The 1990s saw black leaders like Jesse Jackson promote African American, which he said had “cultural integrity,” in that it refers to ethnic origins rather than to skin color. While African American has not replaced black in common parlance, it works both as a noun and as an adjective. This shifting from term to term has not been smooth or linear, and periods of change like the late 1960s were often marked by confusion as to which term was appropriate. The 1967 groundbreaking film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, about a young interracial couple hoping that both sets of parents will accept their plans to marry, reflects the abundance of terminological choices available at the time. Various characters talk of a “colored girl,” a “colored man,” a “Negro,” and “black people.” Even the n-word appears once, used disparagingly by one black character to another. African American had not yet made it into the mix.
Other adjectives related to black

atramental
black as a shoe
black as my hat
dingy
ethiopic
jet
obscure
raven
soot
swarthy

atramentous
black as a tinker’s pot
black as thunder
dusky
fuliginous
murky
of the deepest dye
sable
sooty
zibeline

black
black as jet
brunette
ebon
gray
nigrescent
perse
scoriac
suggilated

black as November
black as midnight
coal
ebony
inky
nocturnal
pitchy
somber
swart

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