endarkenmentn.
/ᵻnˈdɑːk(ə)nm(ə)nt/, /ɛnˈdɑːk(ə)nm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ᵻnˈdɑrkənmənt/, /ɛnˈdɑrkənmənt/ The state of becoming less informed about something than was previously the case, or of finding a situation, subject, more obscure than before. Cf. enlightenment n.
ΚΠ
1829 T. C. Grattan Traits of Trav. II. 153 A few of the Frères Barbettes..commenced their course of religious enlightenment and political endarkenment, neither of which received any encouragement from the neighbouring inhabitants.
1930 Sat. Rev. 12 Apr. 458/1 All this Mr Potter dumps on its fitting rubbish heap, and he leaves his hatreds, his two world philosophy of divine ‘endarkenment’ to consider [D. H.] Lawrence as what, after all, can only make him great—a novelist creator.
2007 Guardian 24 Feb. (Review section) 8/3 How we should handle this new endarkenment which wants to destroy everything that the democracies in Europe and North America have fashioned over centuries.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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n.1829