darkens

Darkens is the third-person singular present tense of the verb darken. The verb means to make something darker by reducing light, color intensity, or brightness, or to become darker as lighting or time passes. It can describe literal changes in illumination (for example, clouds darken the sky; the room darkens when the blinds are lowered) or more figurative changes (a mood darkens; news can darken prospects).

The form is used intransitively or transitively: as a transitive verb, you darken something by adding darkness (The shade darkens the room). Intransitively, it darkens or the night darkens. The past tense and past participle are darkened; the gerund is darkening. The related noun is darkening. The antonym is brighten or lighten. In modern usage, darken appears in weather reporting, art, and photography discussions (for example, exposure adjustments can cause the image to darken). The term also appears in metaphorical expressions such as “to darken someone’s day” or “to darken prospects.”

Etymology: darken is formed from the adjective dark with the -en suffix, a common pattern in English used to create verbs meaning “to cause to be” or “to become.” This construction yields other verbs such as roughen and sharpen.