adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Written or printed in black letter.

   "a black-letter manuscript or book"

2. 2
   Given to the study of books in black letter; old-fashioned. figuratively

   "Kemble, a black-letter man!"

3. 3
   Of or relating to the days in the calendar not marked with red letters as saints' days; unlucky; inauspicious.

   "black-letter days"

Synonyms

All synonyms

gothicgothicantiquabackbeardbelly

Example

More examples

"a black-letter manuscript or book"

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.