go dark

phrase

1

: to become dark

The room suddenly went dark.

2

a

: to stop operating or functioning : to shut down

Most Salt Lake City restaurants go dark on Sundays …

—Kurt Repanshek

Andy Beal was one of 220 million subscribers to Skype … who saw the service go dark on Aug. 16.

—Stephen Baker

In the end, the heart stops, the cells die, the neurons go dark …

—Joshua Ferris

b

communications : to stop broadcasting or transmitting : to go offline

… Lt. Col. Steve Russell of the Army's 4th Infantry Division ordered his men to "go dark" and roll their Humvees up to the edge of a lone farmhouse here.

—William Booth

Examples of go dark in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Last week, 8,000 households around Ukraine temporarily went dark after the Kremlin’s first large-scale grid attack since last winter. — Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 6 Oct. 2026

When the light went dark, a white cowgirl hat and a denim jacket appeared. — Ryan Gaydos Outkick, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026

Cellphone records reviewed during the investigation showed Seetaram had been communicating with Seetal from that afternoon up until Seetal’s phone went dark later that night, according to the complaint. — Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 2 Oct. 2026

While the Coast Guard did not provide details on those tactics, ships can hide their destination through various means, including turning off their location transponders and going dark. — David C. Adams, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1915, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Rhymes for go dark

• ballpark
• benchmark
• birthmark
• daymark
• earmark
• embark
• hallmark
• landmark
• monarch
• postmark
• remark
• skylark