Adjective
fosco (feminine fosca, masculine plural foschi, feminine plural fosche)
- dark, murky, dusky
- Antonyms: chiaro, luminoso
1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XIII”, in Inferno [Hell], lines 4–6; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate], 2nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:Non fronda verde, ma di color fosco; / non rami schietti, ma nodosi e ’nvolti; / non pomi v’eran, ma stecchi con tòsco.- Not green foliage green, but of a dusky color; not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled; there were not apple-trees, but thorns with poison.
- (weather) dull, overcast
- Synonyms: nebbioso, brumoso
- (figurative) gloomy; sad
dipingere a tinte fosche- to paint a gloomy picture
- (literally, “to paint in dark colors”)
References
fosco in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana