Phrase guide

dark figure

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The estimated number of unreported criminal cases.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: criminology, human-sciences, law, mathematics, sciences, statistics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Calque of German Dunkelziffer.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 犯罪暗數 /犯罪暗数 (fànzuì ànshù) — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • Danish: mørketal — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • Faroese: myrkatal — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • Faroese: skuggatal — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • German: Dunkelziffer — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • Japanese: 暗数 (ansū) — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • Norwegian Bokmål: mørketall — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • Russian: тёмный показа́тель (tjómnyj pokazátelʹ) — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • Spanish: cifra gris — estimated number of unreported criminal cases
  • Swedish: mörkertal — estimated number of unreported criminal cases