Dark Ages

American  

noun

1. the period in European history from about a.d. 476 to about 1000.

2. the whole of the Middle Ages, from about a.d. 476 to the Renaissance.

3. (often lowercase)  a period or stage marked by repressiveness, a lack of enlightenment or advanced knowledge, etc.

---

Dark Ages British  

plural noun

1. the period from about the late 5th century _ad to about 1000 _ad , once considered an unenlightened period

2. (occasionally) the whole medieval period

---

Dark Ages Cultural  

1. A term sometimes applied to the early Middle Ages, the first few centuries after the Fall of Rome. The term suggests prevailing ignorance and barbarism, but there were forces for culture and enlightenment throughout the period.

---

Etymology

Origin of Dark Ages

First recorded in 1720–30

Compare meaning

How does dark-ages compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Dark Ages vs. Middle Ages

Example Sentences

Original script drafts were even bolder about portraying that activist, who Zemeckis and Gale described as a “church-group type woman,” a dangerously Dark Ages zealot.

From Los Angeles Times

Monks from Ireland helped spread and then restore Christianity during the so-called Dark Ages.

From BBC

BBC Newsbeat spoke to the project leaders of the latest instalment, Doom: The Dark Ages, about navigating some of these challenges.

From BBC

Final Destination Bloodlines hits cinemas, Doom: The Dark Ages is released, and the second series of Inside Our Minds is out on BBC Two.

From BBC

That would put the Dark Ages monarchs of Europe to shame.

From Salon