Word.ws English Dictionary

see the dark side of the moon

see the dark side of the moon verb: to do or experience something exceedingly difficult or rare.

Verb

see the dark side of the moon (third-person singular simple present sees the dark side of the moon, present participle seeing the dark side of the moon, simple past and past participle saw the dark side of the moon)

  1. (idiomatic) To do or experience something exceedingly difficult or rare.
    • I gotta say.. some of the opinions expressed are like seeing the dark side of the moon to me (not necessarily a bad thing btw).1999 April 21, HiRene23, “The Samurai a Snoozer?”, in alt.tv.highlander (Usenet)
    • Examining them is like seeing the dark side of the moon, or stepping through a looking glass.2000 February 23, roger gonnet, “Scientology assault on Clearwater continues---St. Pete Times--Pulitzer 1980 1/5 (Series Parts 1-2)”, in alt.religion.scientology (Usenet)

Forms of see the dark side of the moon

third-person singular presentsees the dark side of the moon
present participleseeing the dark side of the moon
past participlesaw the dark side of the moon
pastsaw the dark side of the moon

Origin of see the dark side of the moon

The "far side of the moon", the side we don't see from home, is sometimes referred to colloquially as the "dark side of the moon" where "dark" means "unseen" rather than "unlit." In the latter sense, there is no dark side, as both sides of the moon receive equal sunlight. This makes it more or less impossible to see the "dark" side of the moon if this is taken to mean "unlit", and it is impossible to see the "far" side of the moon from Earth in the sense of "unseen."

Questions about see the dark side of the moon

What does see the dark side of the moon mean?
See the dark side of the moon means to do or experience something exceedingly difficult or rare.
What part of speech is see the dark side of the moon?
See the dark side of the moon is a verb.
What is the past tense of see the dark side of the moon?
The past tense of see the dark side of the moon is saw the dark side of the moon.

Words near see the dark side of the moon in the dictionary

  1. see something green in one's eye
  2. see something, say something
  3. see stars
  4. see that
  5. see the back of
  6. see the dark side of the moon
  7. see the day
  8. see the elephant
  9. see the error of one's ways
  10. see the forest but for the trees
  11. see the forest for the trees

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: see the dark side of the moon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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