Dark vs. Evil — What's the Difference?

Lacking or having very little light

Evil, in a general sense, is defined by what it is not—the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness.

Lacking brightness

Morally bad or wrong; wicked

Reflecting only a small fraction of incident light; tending toward black

Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful

Served without milk or cream

Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous

Being or having a complexion that is not light in color.

Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous

Sullen or threatening

Characterized by anger or spite; malicious

Characterized by gloom or pessimism; dismal or bleak

The quality of being morally bad or wrong; wickedness.

Being or characterized by morbid or grimly satiric humor.

That which causes harm, misfortune, or destruction

Unknown or concealed; mysterious

An evil force, power, or personification.

Lacking enlightenment, knowledge, or culture

Something that is a cause or source of suffering, injury, or destruction

Evil in nature or effect; sinister

In an evil manner.

Morally corrupt; vicious

Intending to harm; malevolent.

Having richness or depth

Morally corrupt.

Not giving performances; closed

Unpleasant, foul (of odour, taste, mood, weather, etc.).

(Linguistics) Pronounced with the back of the tongue raised toward the velum. Used of the sound (l) in words like full.

Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.

Absence of light.

(obsolete) Having harmful qualities; not good; worthless or deleterious.

A place having little or no light.

Undesirable; harmful; bad practice.

Night; nightfall

Moral badness; wickedness; malevolence; the forces or behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good.

A deep hue or color.

Something which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; something which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; harm; injury; mischief.

Darks Pieces of laundry having a dark color.

(obsolete) A malady or disease; especially in combination, as in king's evil, colt evil.

Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.

(obsolete) wickedly, evilly, iniquitously

(of a source of light) Extinguished.

(obsolete) injuriously, harmfully; in a damaging way.

Deprived of sight; blind.

(obsolete) badly, poorly; in an insufficient way.

Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or comprehension: caliginous, darkling, dim, gloomy, lightless, sombre.

Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil beast; and evil plant; an evil crop.

(of colour) Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.

Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like.

Ambiguously or unclearly expressed: enigmatic, esoteric, mysterious, obscure, undefined.

Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days.

Marked by or conducted with secrecy: hidden, secret; clandestine, surreptitious.

Anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; - opposed to good.

Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign.

Moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the principles of virtue imposed by conscience, or by the will of the Supreme Being, or by the principles of a lawful human authority; disposition to do wrong; moral offence; wickedness; depravity.

Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.

Malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula.

(of a time period) Lacking progress in science or the arts.

In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly.

Extremely sad, depressing, or somber, typically due to, or marked by, a tragic or undesirable event.

Morally objectionable behavior

With emphasis placed on the unpleasant aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form, or a portion of either.

That which causes harm or destruction or misfortune;

Off the air; not transmitting.

The quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice;

A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.

Morally bad or wrong;

(uncountable) Ignorance.

Having the nature of vice

(uncountable) Nightfall.

Tending to cause great harm

A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.

Having or exerting a malignant influence;

(intransitive) To grow or become dark, darken.

(intransitive) To remain in the dark, lurk, lie hidden or concealed.

(transitive) To make dark, darken; to obscure.

Destitute, or partially destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored; as, a dark room; a dark day; dark cloth; dark paint; a dark complexion.

Not clear to the understanding; not easily seen through; obscure; mysterious; hidden.

Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant.

Evincing black or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious; as, a dark villain; a dark deed.

Foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious.

Deprived of sight; blind.

Absence of light; darkness; obscurity; a place where there is little or no light.

The condition of ignorance; gloom; secrecy.

A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, or the like; as, the light and darks are well contrasted.

To darken; to obscure.

Absence of light or illumination

Absence of moral or spiritual values;

An unilluminated area;

The time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside

An unenlightened state;

Devoid or partially devoid of light or brightness; shadowed or black or somber-colored;

(used of color) having a dark hue;

Brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes);

Stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable;

Causing dejection;

Secret;

Showing a brooding ill humor;

Lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture;

Marked by difficulty of style or expression;

Having skin rich in melanin pigments;

Not giving performances; closed;