bedarken

B3E1D2A1R1K5E1N1
UK/bɪˈdɑːkn̩/

verb

To make dim, or to darken, or obscure.

OriginEnglish darken ← Middle English bi- ← Old English be- →
Scrabble 15
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Meanings

verbbedarken (third-person singular simple present bedarkens, present participle bedarkening, simple past and past participle bedarkened)

present singular third person bedarkens · participle present bedarkening · participle past bedarkened · past bedarkened

  1. To make dim, or to darken, or obscure.

    #*: for light spreads; all human souls, never so bedarkened, love light; light once kindled spreads, till all is luminous

    1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “chapter 6: Hero-Worship”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem)
    1 more example

    Even if there had been a glimmer of light, the dust would have robbed us of it; it was dense enough to bedarken an out-of-doors spot.

    1962, Joseph Gies, Adventure Underground: Tunnels, page 260

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
blotclouddarkenobscure

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁ep-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éps
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₁épi
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁pi
  5. Proto-Germanic*bi
  6. Proto-Germanic*bi-
  7. Proto-West Germanic*bi-
  8. Old Englishbe-
  9. Middle Englishbi-
  10. Englishbe-
  11. Englishdarken
  12. Englishbedarken

From be- + darken.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Bednarek
Cite this entry
APA

bedarken. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedarken

MLA

“bedarken.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedarken. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bedarken,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedarken.

Source: bedarken on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.