How do you use the word "black" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "black": She was wearing a black hat. Did you buy it on the black market?

Black Meaning

/blæk/

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

adjAbsorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.

adjWithout light.

Sentence Examples

She was wearing a black hat.

Did you buy it on the black market?

The black of the night sky

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

dark dim bleak

Antonyms:

white

CEFR Practice Quiz

The cat was completely ____, blending perfectly with the dark night.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

She wore a beautiful ____ dress to the formal dinner party tonight.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *blakaz Proto-West Germanic *blak Old English blæc Middle English blak English black From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”). See also Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”); also compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”). Adjective sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"The scandal of a lie is in a manner lost and annihilated when diffused among several thousands; as a drop of the blackest tincture wears away and vanishes when mixed and confused in a considerable body of water; the blot is still in it, but is not able to discover itself." — 1712 October 21 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, October 11, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 507; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 492:

"Speaking of round sunglasses, these lightweight polarized ones and come in two shades of tortoiseshell as well as black and bronze." — 2023 June 26, Lauren Caruso and Jillian Tracy, “The 22 best sunglasses for summer, according to style experts”, in CNN, archived from the original on 14 Apr 2025:

"Somebody tell me, what can I do / Something is holding me back / Is it because I'm black?" — 1969, “Is It Because I'm Black”, performed by Syl Johnson:

"I believed that a huge injustice had been perpetrated for hundreds of years on every black man, woman, and child in the United States." — 1971, Lyndon Johnson, The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 39:

"I am a young, light-skinned black woman, and truer words were never written of the problem we light-skinned blacks have had to live with. The article explains in-depth what it's like." — 1975 May, Terry Hodges, Ebony, page 10:

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