darkliest

Adverb

darkly (comparative darklier or more darkly, superlative darkliest or most darkly)

1. With insufficient light for easy discernment or comprehension.
   • I could make out his image darkly.
2. With a dark appearance.
   • And still when loudliest howls the storm, / And darkliest lowers his native sky, / The king's fierce soul is in that form, / The warrior's spirit threatens nigh!1846, R[obert] S[tephen] Hawker, “The Wreck”, in Echoes from Old Cornwall, London: Joseph Masters, […], →OCLC, stanza X, page 76

   Synonyms:

   blackly, sably

3. (figuratively) In a manner which is not readily visible or noticeable; inconspicuously.
   • Set defenses permitted a coach to plan an attack with scant worry as to where he would find the offensive men. So our Tom Reilly schemed darkly and came up with the attack which pried apart the Brown Bowlers. His scheme was to double team every man in the defensive line by employing one back as an...1964, Stanley Woodward, Paper Tiger: An Old Sportswriter's Reminiscences of People, Newspapers, War and Work, chapter 3, page 33 of the 2007 University of Nebraska Press paperback edition

   Synonyms:

   anonymously, obscurely, unapparently, unnoticeably

4. (figuratively) In a manner which retards or prevents discernment; clandestinely.
   • His secret wooing of the Norman lady who was so proud and stately was very dear to him, and the romance of it pleased him even more than the mere material joys he hoped some day to gain from it. Proud as she was, womanlike she at least deigned to listen to him, and his crafty brain schemed darkly...1907, Cyril Ranger Gull as Guy Thorne, The Serf, chapter 5

   Synonyms:

   covertly, furtively, inconspicuously, secretly, stealthily, surreptitiously

5. (figuratively) In a manner which is difficult to understand, or which retards or prevents understanding; incomprehensibly.
   • Secondly, The Covenant was then revealed more darkly and obſcurely, but now the diſpenſation of it, is more cleare and evident: the light is now marvellous, it is as the Sunne ſhining at noone-day. […] Though it was revealed before, yet it was but darkly, but now it is revealed more clearly ſince...1651, Peter Bulkeley [i.e., Peter Bulkley], “The Second Difference, that the One was More Dark, the Other Gives Clearer Light”, in The Gospel-covenant; or, The Covenant of Grace Opened. […], 2nd...

   Synonyms:

   fathomlessly, inscrutably, mysteriously, obscurely, vaguely

6. (figuratively) In a manner which tends to produce uncertainty or confusion; bewilderingly.
   • Here, as Genevieve sat musing, in apparent slumber, on her situation of peril, and her hope of liberty, her sentinels, who had hitherto walked at a surly distance from her, now chanced to pass nearer; and she heard one of them say, “She sleeps, thou need'st not whisper; -I tell thee it must be done...1824, Charles Robert Maturin, The Albigenses, chapter 16

   Synonyms:

   bafflingly, perplexingly, puzzlingly

See all 9 meanings of darkly