obscure

1 of 3

adjective

ob·scure äb-ˈskyu̇r How to pronounce obscure (audio)

əb-

: dark, dim

the obscure dusk of the shuttered room

: shrouded in or hidden by darkness

standing obscure in the deepest shade

: not clearly seen or easily distinguished : faint

obscure markings

: not readily understood or clearly expressed

also : mysterious

a slough of pretentious and obscure jargon

Philip Howard

: relatively unknown: such as

: remote, secluded

an obscure village

: not prominent or famous

an obscure poet

: constituting the unstressed vowel \\ə\\ or having unstressed \\ə\\ as its value

obscurely adverb

obscureness noun

obscure

2 of 3

verb

obscured; obscuring

transitive verb

: to make dark, dim, or indistinct

The soot on the lampshade obscured the light.

: to conceal or hide by or as if by covering

… snow on glaciers can obscure deep crevasses.

Tom Simon

: to reduce (a vowel) to the value \\ə\\

obscuration

ˌäb-skyu̇-ˈrā-shən How to pronounce obscure (audio)

noun

obscure

3 of 3

noun

: obscurity

Example Sentences

Adjective Many people shared an obscure sense of gratification that [Dylan] Thomas had died young, as a poet should.

Adam Kirsch, New Yorker, 5 July 2004 But by 1830 the Boston Mission Board was desperate enough that it targeted an obscure sect of Oriental Christians, the Nestorians in faraway Iran, as a possibility for conversion.

Robert D. Kaplan, The Arabists, 1993 I knew they were special from their jeans and T-shirts, their knowing, ironic looks when obscure works of literature were referred to.

Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, 1991 Now at last Bacon could refer when he chose to his father's high position and his father's service—and no man could say it was done for self-aggrandizement, as a son who is obscure bespeaks the glory of past forebears.

Catherine Drinker Bowen, Francis Bacon, 1963 The movie is full of obscure references that only pop culture enthusiasts will understand. The origins of the language are obscure. Verb Throughout this book, the ground of fact becomes obscured entirely by a deep layer of speculative quicksand.

Helen Vendler, New Republic, 10 June 2002 But evening comes or even noon and some combination of nervous tensions obscures my memories of what whiskey costs me in the way of physical and intellectual well-being.

John Cheever, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 1990 … [Mr. Schuller's] … "Early Jazz" brought a sometimes Olympian precision to writing about an art that has often languished in the whale's belly of sociology, obscured by pretension and blubbery thinking.

Stanley Crouch, New York Times Book Review, 2 Apr. 1989 It was eight o'clock when we landed; we walked for a short time on the shore enjoying the transitory light, and then retired to the inn and contemplated the lovely scene of waters, woods, and mountains, obscured in darkness, yet still displaying their black outlines.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818 The true history has been obscured by legends about what happened. They accused the company of trying to obscure the fact that the product poses a health risk. Noun … who shall … through the palpable obscure find out his uncouth way … ?

John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667 See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Against a hyperpartisan backdrop of midterm elections and dwindling national reproductive rights, Caruso’s Republican past has become a difficult-to-obscure liability in this deep-blue city.

Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2022 The phrase also should not be permitted, Snyder contends, to obscure Frankfurter’s indispensable role in helping Warren achieve unanimity in the momentous school decision.

Justin Driver, The Atlantic, 12 Aug. 2022 Taliban leaders, who initially tried to obscure evidence of the strike, waited days after to issue an official response.

Shannon K. Crawford, ABC News, 4 Aug. 2022 The National Weather Service says onshore winds could blow the marine layer on to local beaches late Monday afternoon and become thick enough by mid-evening to obscure July Fourth firework shows along the coast.

Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 July 2022 The obscure law, known as 62F, is based on a formula that tax growth does not exceed the rise in wages and salaries.

Shirley Leung, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Aug. 2022 Originally rejected by Tolkien's publisher for being too obscure and dense, this collection of stories was finally published posthumously in 1967, after being edited by his son Christopher Tolkien.

Emma Dibdin, Town & Country, 7 Aug. 2022 But others, like what makes a good theme or how obscure an answer can be, are far more subjective.

Matt Hartman, The New Republic, 5 Aug. 2022 But while the milieu will be utterly unfamiliar to most viewers, the attractions aren’t so obscure.

John Anderson, WSJ, 26 July 2022

Verb

Printed on retroreflective vinyl, these works feature photographs—mostly historical—overlaid with washes of color, graphic patterns or painterly marks that partially obscure the primary image.

Stephen Wallis, WSJ, 7 Sep. 2022 The instruments use a coronagraph to block out the starlight that would obscure the planet’s view otherwise.

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 1 Sep. 2022 Infrared instruments are better suited for trying to detect the universe’s earliest stars and galaxies because the longer wavelengths of infrared light can pierce through dust and gas that might otherwise obscure some celestial objects.

Denise Chow, NBC News, 11 July 2022 Weakland, who protected abusive priests and at least initially treated complaints about them with disdain, came to be a face of the crisis in southeastern Wisconsin, a fate that would obscure his earlier accomplishments for the rest of his life.

Annysa Johnson, Journal Sentinel, 22 Aug. 2022 NBC News has viewed the English-language sites, which obscure their ownership and authors.

Kevin Collier, NBC News, 4 Aug. 2022 Biden’s decision to meet the Saudis on their turf, Gause continued, is no small thing for the royal family, even if the White House has tried to obscure the point.

Eli Stokolsstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 13 July 2022 The National Weather Service says the marine layer could obscure the view at the immediate coast.

Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 June 2022 Russia has long tried to obscure the extent of its military operations in Ukraine, which included its seizing of Crimea and direct military interventions in eastern Ukraine with unmarked troops in 2014 and 2015.

James Marson And Matthew Luxmoore, WSJ, 1 Mar. 2022 See More

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English, "dark, unenlightened, incomprehensible," borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French oscur, obscur "dark, dull, enigmatic," borrowed from Latin obscūrus "dim, dark, appearing faintly, imperfectly known, concealed from knowledge, incomprehensible," of uncertain origin

Note: Latin obscūrus has traditionally been linked to a presumed Indo-European verbal base *skeu̯- "cover, conceal," and hence to an assortment of Germanic etyma, most formed with hypothesized root extensions of this base (compare shower entry 1, sky entry 1)—hence, J. Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, p. 951, American Heritage Dictionary, Oxford Latin Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary, third edition. However, etymological work of the last half-century has thrown doubt on the existence of such an etymon; in particular, the Sanskrit verb skunā́ti, glossed as "covers," has now been judged a late and isolated semantic development of a verb that meant "push, poke" in Vedic. The difficulty with any analysis of obscūrus that posits a meaning "cover" for -scūr- is that it makes little sense semantically compounded with the prefix and preposition ob(s)- "facing, in front of, toward/against" (compare ob oculōs "before one's eyes," obviam "in the way of"). It is not even certain that the word is correctly parsed as ob-scūrus, rather than obs-cūrus, as has been proposed by E. Hamp ("Some Italic and Celtic correspondences II," Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung, 96. Band, 1. Heft [1982/83], pp. 98-99). While acknowledging this problem, M. de Vaan suggests a relationship with the bases of Latin scaevus "left-hand" and obscēnus, obscaenus "ill-omened" (see obscene), though he admits that supporting cognates in other Indo-European languages are lacking (Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Brill, 2008).

Verb

Middle English obscuren, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French obscurer, oscurir, borrowed from Latin obscūrāre "to darken, eclipse, dim, conceal from knowledge, make difficult to comprehend," verbal derivative of obscūrus "dim, dark, imperfectly known, concealed from knowledge, incomprehensible" — more at obscure entry 1

Noun

derivative of obscure entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1667, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

obscure 1 of 2

adjective

ob·scure äb-ˈskyu̇r How to pronounce obscure (audio)

əb-

: not easy to see : faint

an obscure light

: hidden from view

an obscure village

: not easily understood or clearly expressed

I struggled with an obscure chapter in the book.

: not outstanding or famous

It was written by an obscure poet.

obscure

2 of 2

verb

obscured; obscuring

: to make difficult to see or understand

Clouds drifted across the sky, obscuring the thin sliver of moon.

Brian Jacques, Redwall

单词	obscurely
释义	obscure 1 of 3 adjective ob·scure äb-ˈskyu̇r əb- 1 a : dark, dim the obscure dusk of the shuttered room b : shrouded in or hidden by darkness standing obscure in the deepest shade c : not clearly seen or easily distinguished : faint obscure markings 2 : not readily understood or clearly expressed also : mysterious a slough of pretentious and obscure jargon Philip Howard 3 : relatively unknown: such as a : remote, secluded an obscure village b : not prominent or famous an obscure poet 4 : constituting the unstressed vowel \\ə\\ or having unstressed \\ə\\ as its value obscurely adverb obscureness noun obscure 2 of 3 verb obscured; obscuring transitive verb 1 : to make dark, dim, or indistinct The soot on the lampshade obscured the light. 2 : to conceal or hide by or as if by covering … snow on glaciers can obscure deep crevasses. Tom Simon 3 : to reduce (a vowel) to the value \\ə\\ obscuration ˌäb-skyu̇-ˈrā-shən noun obscure 3 of 3 noun : obscurity Synonyms Adjective ambiguous arcane cryptic dark deep Delphic double-edged elliptical elliptic enigmatic enigmatical equivocal fuliginous inscrutable murky mysterious mystic nebulous occult opaque Verb belie blanket blot out cloak conceal cover curtain disguise enshroud hide mask occult paper over screen shroud suppress veil See all Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Adjective Many people shared an obscure sense of gratification that [Dylan] Thomas had died young, as a poet should. Adam Kirsch, New Yorker, 5 July 2004 But by 1830 the Boston Mission Board was desperate enough that it targeted an obscure sect of Oriental Christians, the Nestorians in faraway Iran, as a possibility for conversion. Robert D. Kaplan, The Arabists, 1993 I knew they were special from their jeans and T-shirts, their knowing, ironic looks when obscure works of literature were referred to. Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, 1991 Now at last Bacon could refer when he chose to his father's high position and his father's service—and no man could say it was done for self-aggrandizement, as a son who is obscure bespeaks the glory of past forebears. Catherine Drinker Bowen, Francis Bacon, 1963 The movie is full of obscure references that only pop culture enthusiasts will understand. The origins of the language are obscure. Verb Throughout this book, the ground of fact becomes obscured entirely by a deep layer of speculative quicksand. Helen Vendler, New Republic, 10 June 2002 But evening comes or even noon and some combination of nervous tensions obscures my memories of what whiskey costs me in the way of physical and intellectual well-being. John Cheever, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 1990 … [Mr. Schuller's] … "Early Jazz" brought a sometimes Olympian precision to writing about an art that has often languished in the whale's belly of sociology, obscured by pretension and blubbery thinking. Stanley Crouch, New York Times Book Review, 2 Apr. 1989 It was eight o'clock when we landed; we walked for a short time on the shore enjoying the transitory light, and then retired to the inn and contemplated the lovely scene of waters, woods, and mountains, obscured in darkness, yet still displaying their black outlines. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818 The true history has been obscured by legends about what happened. They accused the company of trying to obscure the fact that the product poses a health risk. Noun … who shall … through the palpable obscure find out his uncouth way … ? John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667 See More Recent Examples on the Web Adjective Against a hyperpartisan backdrop of midterm elections and dwindling national reproductive rights, Caruso’s Republican past has become a difficult-to-obscure liability in this deep-blue city. Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2022 The phrase also should not be permitted, Snyder contends, to obscure Frankfurter’s indispensable role in helping Warren achieve unanimity in the momentous school decision. Justin Driver, The Atlantic, 12 Aug. 2022 Taliban leaders, who initially tried to obscure evidence of the strike, waited days after to issue an official response. Shannon K. Crawford, ABC News, 4 Aug. 2022 The National Weather Service says onshore winds could blow the marine layer on to local beaches late Monday afternoon and become thick enough by mid-evening to obscure July Fourth firework shows along the coast. Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 July 2022 The obscure law, known as 62F, is based on a formula that tax growth does not exceed the rise in wages and salaries. Shirley Leung, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Aug. 2022 Originally rejected by Tolkien's publisher for being too obscure and dense, this collection of stories was finally published posthumously in 1967, after being edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Emma Dibdin, Town & Country, 7 Aug. 2022 But others, like what makes a good theme or how obscure an answer can be, are far more subjective. Matt Hartman, The New Republic, 5 Aug. 2022 But while the milieu will be utterly unfamiliar to most viewers, the attractions aren’t so obscure. John Anderson, WSJ, 26 July 2022 Verb Printed on retroreflective vinyl, these works feature photographs—mostly historical—overlaid with washes of color, graphic patterns or painterly marks that partially obscure the primary image. Stephen Wallis, WSJ, 7 Sep. 2022 The instruments use a coronagraph to block out the starlight that would obscure the planet’s view otherwise. Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 1 Sep. 2022 Infrared instruments are better suited for trying to detect the universe’s earliest stars and galaxies because the longer wavelengths of infrared light can pierce through dust and gas that might otherwise obscure some celestial objects. Denise Chow, NBC News, 11 July 2022 Weakland, who protected abusive priests and at least initially treated complaints about them with disdain, came to be a face of the crisis in southeastern Wisconsin, a fate that would obscure his earlier accomplishments for the rest of his life. Annysa Johnson, Journal Sentinel, 22 Aug. 2022 NBC News has viewed the English-language sites, which obscure their ownership and authors. Kevin Collier, NBC News, 4 Aug. 2022 Biden’s decision to meet the Saudis on their turf, Gause continued, is no small thing for the royal family, even if the White House has tried to obscure the point. Eli Stokolsstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 13 July 2022 The National Weather Service says the marine layer could obscure the view at the immediate coast. Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 June 2022 Russia has long tried to obscure the extent of its military operations in Ukraine, which included its seizing of Crimea and direct military interventions in eastern Ukraine with unmarked troops in 2014 and 2015. James Marson And Matthew Luxmoore, WSJ, 1 Mar. 2022 See More Word History Etymology Adjective Middle English, "dark, unenlightened, incomprehensible," borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French oscur, obscur "dark, dull, enigmatic," borrowed from Latin obscūrus "dim, dark, appearing faintly, imperfectly known, concealed from knowledge, incomprehensible," of uncertain origin Note: Latin obscūrus has traditionally been linked to a presumed Indo-European verbal base skeu̯- "cover, conceal," and hence to an assortment of Germanic etyma, most formed with hypothesized root extensions of this base (compare shower entry 1, sky entry 1)—hence, J. Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch,* p. 951, American Heritage Dictionary, Oxford Latin Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary, third edition. However, etymological work of the last half-century has thrown doubt on the existence of such an etymon; in particular, the Sanskrit verb skunā́ti, glossed as "covers," has now been judged a late and isolated semantic development of a verb that meant "push, poke" in Vedic. The difficulty with any analysis of obscūrus that posits a meaning "cover" for -scūr- is that it makes little sense semantically compounded with the prefix and preposition ob(s)- "facing, in front of, toward/against" (compare ob oculōs "before one's eyes," obviam "in the way of"). It is not even certain that the word is correctly parsed as ob-scūrus, rather than obs-cūrus, as has been proposed by E. Hamp ("Some Italic and Celtic correspondences II," Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung, 96. Band, 1. Heft [1982/83], pp. 98-99). While acknowledging this problem, M. de Vaan suggests a relationship with the bases of Latin scaevus "left-hand" and obscēnus, obscaenus "ill-omened" (see obscene), though he admits that supporting cognates in other Indo-European languages are lacking (Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Brill, 2008). Verb Middle English obscuren, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French obscurer, oscurir, borrowed from Latin obscūrāre "to darken, eclipse, dim, conceal from knowledge, make difficult to comprehend," verbal derivative of obscūrus "dim, dark, imperfectly known, concealed from knowledge, incomprehensible" — more at obscure entry 1 Noun derivative of obscure entry 1 First Known Use Adjective 15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a Verb 15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Noun 1667, in the meaning defined above Kids Definition obscure 1 of 2 adjective ob·scure äb-ˈskyu̇r əb- 1 : not easy to see : faint an obscure light 2 : hidden from view an obscure village 3 : not easily understood or clearly expressed I struggled with an obscure chapter in the book. 4 : not outstanding or famous It was written by an obscure poet. obscure 2 of 2 verb obscured; obscuring : to make difficult to see or understand Clouds drifted across the sky, obscuring the thin sliver of moon. Brian Jacques, Redwall obscurely adverb as in darkly Synonyms & Similar Words Relevance darkly dimly murkily somberly gloomily dully duskily shadily cloudily shadowily Antonyms & Near Antonyms bright brilliantly luminously splendidly brightly dazzlingly radiantly glowingly lustrously incandescently burningly blazingly flamingly glaringly blindingly fulgently glitteringly lambently flaringly flickeringly opalescently See More
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obscure

adjective

verb

noun

Synonyms

Example Sentences

Word History

Kids Definition

adjective

verb

adverb