This topic isn't explored in the books or the movies or any of the supplementary material, but Dark magic can be defined simply as magic that is used exclusively to harm.
Okay, right, that makes sense. It's the difference between a kitchen knife and a weapon, after all. The regular knife that is used to cut onions can suddenly become the murder weapon in a court case. But wait, hold on, if that's how Light and Dark magic is , with Light magic being the onion-suppressor knife and Dark being that same knife but given prominence in a murder case...aren't they the same thing? If magic in general is a knife, as in, in can kill or can help, then Dark versus Light is how its used.
Alright, but any decent person already knew that, rather like how guns aren't inherently bad or how people aren't just straight up good or evil, and I'm looking at you, Voldemort, you're next.
What do I have to bring to the table, so to speak?
Well, I said that Dark magic is used exclusively to harm, under basic definitions, but according to the books, the Dark Arts include things like Necromancy, Horcruxes, Petrification, and the Imperius Curse (yes, yes, I know). None of those are strictly and directly harmful, except perhaps Necromancy which creates creatures that attack in defense of something. Horcruxes by themselves never hurt anyone, just Voldemort's, whose soul is the sort of soul that would love to kill you.
Although considering that you have to kill someone to make one, that is perhaps why.
Petrification doesn't harm anyone, as evidenced in Chamber of Secrets, and the Imperius Curse can do positive things, like commanding someone to go do half an hour of exercise or to eat their vegetables, even if it is morally dubious.
Also, does it bother anyone else that Necromancy and Voldemort are words, but Petrification and Teleportation aren't?
Alright, so the definition of Dark magic/the Dark Arts is more than a little inflexible, so what?
Time to get into the grit of the non-Dark magic, AKA, Light magic, like the Cheering Charm, the Levitation Charm, and even some lesser known spells like Partis Temporis, which temporarily divides something.
I have one thing to say about the Cheering Charm, and that is that it makes you feel happy, despite how that is similar to the Imperius in that it modifies your emotions or your brain activity, forcibly. It's not Dark simply because it doesn't have any seemingly negative effects, although it, like anything else, can under certain circumstances. You don't see wizards just casting on it on each other all the time, do you? I'm not going to bother with writing out a circumstance for it to harm you, which, hint, would be someone who is suffering from Depression - anti-Depressants not, like, a "be happy" pill - or under shock or something. Actually, I just wrote a situation. Huh.
Onwards!
The Levitation Charm, the Stunning Charm, the Body-Binding Jinx, and other charms and jinxes similar like Tarantallegra - the Dancing Jinx - or the Jelly-Legs Jinx stop, control, or change how the body moves, in this case. All of these can and will forcibly control your movements. You can be levitated off a cliff or a roof, you can be stunned and unmoved to be at the mercy of someone else or animals or the like, you could dance yourself into exhaustion, or be unable to dodge or protect yourself under the effects of these charms and jinxes.
Partis Temporis, despite a lack of information, could likely be aimed at someone, suddenly finding the target divided in half and most certainly dead. If it doesn't affect anything living, or at least sentient, then it can certainly divide houses, broomsticks, or Floo fireplaces, quite easily harming someone, whether dropping debris onto them, causing them to fall from the air, or leave someone stuck in the Floo system for who-knows-how-long, and it's not that hard to aim, so, yeah.
While there are spells that are nearly impossible to harm someone with, like the Patronus Charm, there are also spells that are nearly impossible to help someone with, like the Cruciatus Curse.
Spells that would be considered Dark, like the Bone-Breaking Curse, can be used to save people or harm people. You can break an arm so that someone will have their arm loosened so they can move it from the jaws of danger, or break it to re-heal it if it wasn't healed properly, and so on.
So while the definitions are really inflexible, Dark and Light magic still exist, like with the examples I just gave, Patronus and Cruciatus.
I've read more than a few stories where witches and wizards can be born with an inclination toward Lighter or Darker magic, rather like Dumbledore and Riddle are, we can assume, since people are more inclined to be better at math or art or music than others. Just like how mathematical calculations can make an atomic bomb, they can find the cures for disease or program life-support.
I mostly want to point out how, by the books, what is called Dark Magic is not necessarily "evil", either. While magic can be dark, like the Force can be Dark, from Star Wars, technically speaking, using those spells doesn't make you a bad person.
Snape is very very likely to use Dark magic, because, remember, he became a Death Eater willingly before he became a spy, yet we know he, well, I won't say good, but not really bad intentions. Conversely, James Potter was Light, used Light spells, but was a bully for no reason as a teenager, and suspected Remus of being Voldemort's spy, not Peter
While I'm not going to deny that most Dark magic is primarily harmful, strait-out banning it because of that isn't a good idea, nor does it really stop anyone from using them, and forbidding them makes people more curious about it, so banning the Dark Arts probably made the whole issue worse.
I'll bring up another weapon analogy. Magic is a multi-use tool, it can be good or bad. Undeniably Light magic - the Patronus Charm - is simply just the can opener, with the near impossible ability to harm, while regular "Light" magic is more the screwdriver, probably helpful, but can still become a weapon. Regular "Dark" Magic would be more akin to a small knife, while easy to harm, there is plenty of good potential, while undeniably Dark Magic - the Cruciatus, because you can save a life by killing a bear attempting to maul your friend, so even the Killing Curse isn't fully dark - is more akin the rat-poison in the cupboard, made to harm, but can still do good, but never often directly.
A final note: Dark Magic seems to also include old rituals, and many people write stories where other magic forms, like Blood or Ritual magic, are counted as Dark, and while not officially canonical, it falls in line with how the book characters think in respect to the Dark Arts. Often included in these too is celebrating old holidays, like Yule or Samhain, with bonfires and fruit sacrifices, although whether those would legitimately count under the current wizarding mindset is unknown the better question is why, exactly, aren't these old holidays celebrated by Magical Britain anymore?
Shiizumi Valé, or WillowEye10329 on Pottermore, has given her word, now signing off.
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