1Not discovered or known about; uncertain.

1. 1.1 Not clearly expressed or easily understood.
   obscure references to Proust

   Example sentencesExamples

   • If you survive his maze of dense wordplay and obscure references, you will probably not find anything too terribly profound, but you'll still be smarter.
   • Taylor's one of those crazy people with a humanities minor and is always making obscure references that I don't get.
   • So much the better if you have a cache of slightly obscure references that you can dispense, especially if these bear only tangential relationship to what you are discussing.
   • Still, this is a Frank Black album, with its obscure references and abstruse lyrics.
   • Pondering the wisdom of basing a key joke on an obscure music reference that most people won't understand, I wander back downstairs to the lounge.
   • One of my favourite moments of the week is taking out the obscure Canadian reference and replacing it with an obscure American or British reference.
   • Could Mann's love of obscure references and epic sweep have prompted such hostile treatment?
   • If the communication gap is too wide, the message is too obscure for people to understand.
   • In fact you appear to have to be very advanced in magical theory in order to understand most of the obscure written references about it.
   • Oblique culinary references and obscure terms go against the grain of the present climate in the culinary world.
   • Also, whether or not it's a specific form, do you happen to know a good site or book with reference to more obscure poetry forms?
   • Individualistic and even idiosyncratic as Badri's style can be, no viewer can complain that his paintings are obscure or difficult to understand.
   • With his artisan/architect demeanour most would expect more obscure references; more mystery, metaphor, or magic dust.
   • According to the notes I've been sent, there seems to be a need to cut or alter all sorts of obscure references to German politicians and places because the audience here won't get them.
   • This section is disjointed, much is left unexplained, and Brooks uses many obscure local references.
   • Sometimes the lyrics are obscure and difficult to understand, but stick with them as they are always worth it.
   • Characters are represented here, offering a narrative which is obscure and clearly personal to the artist.
   • With that in mind, which of the following obscure, graduate-level references does Mead not use in the article?
   • His use of obscure jargon underscored the urgent need for secrecy and discretion.
   • Phases that may seem like obscure references to people, animals or those things around us often have a very deep and profound meaning.

   Synonyms

   abstruse, recondite, arcane, esoteric, recherché, occult
2. 1.2 Not important or well known.
   an obscure religious sect

   Example sentencesExamples

   • As a reporter for a major magazine she intended to write about what would no doubt be an odd, perhaps even bizarre practice by an obscure religious sect.
   • I have this uncanny ability to recognise some of the most obscure actors.
   • The body of work includes recent acquisitions and both well known and more obscure works from the gallery.
   • I tend to forget some obscure titles on albums I rarely play.
   • Speaking of obscure Australian actors, Andy sent me an email.
   • Disillusioned and sickened, Balashov achieves salvation by joining the Skoptsy, an obscure religious sect that existed until only a few decades ago.
   • He heard about Bob from a patient who wore a unique gold design on a neck chain, one that Lovejoy recognized as a combination of two obscure religious symbols.
   • Is there a post-graduate degree course in obscure extremist political or religious sects?
   • The fear in itself invoked age-old mythologies about the end of the world and gave religious cults the chance to enact rituals based on obscure prophecies.
   • To reach a younger demographic, Jensen and his ilk are eschewing mainstream acts and building brand identity with cutting-edge, forgotten, and obscure music.
   • They have not hint of ‘an obscure self that is forgotten underneath’.
   • Like a Byzantine chant, an obscure collection of religious doctrines - brands - stands poised to take over employee larynges and employee minds.
   • That kind of data may seem obscure and unimportant, but it's a useful tool for researchers and insurance companies wanting to know long-term hurricane trends.
   • You could become a flagellant in some obscure religious sect.
   • He has a way of giving to some obscure magical belief or religious custom a sort of gripping immediacy.
   • Litigants and witnesses remain practically anonymous - obscure names without faces or detailed personal histories.
   • A set of trimmer figures and new tattoos show a band that's been sharpened by extended tours of an obscure but adoring and importantly, swelling international circuit.
   • However, in the following sections, we see that a minor slight of the American religious right by an obscure professor has provoked an event of international outrage.
   • But somehow, in the process of cultural production, some obscure, unnoticed, maybe even unconscious revolution took place.
   • An obscure religious sect, the Raelians, has allegedly taken this step toward the eugenic future.

   Synonyms

   little known, unknown, unheard of, undistinguished, insignificant, unimportant, inconsequential, inconspicuous, unnoticed, nameless, anonymous, minor, humble, lowly, unrenowned, unsung, unrecognized, unhonoured, inglorious, forgotten
3. 1.3 Hard to make out or define; vague.
   figurative I feel an obscure resentment

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Yet while Fassbinder remains a signal figure for those who recall his '70s heyday, to a new generation he's something of an obscure shadow from the past.
   • Most of these people are scared stiff of entering the political arena on their own but eager to do so hidden under some obscure umbrella.
   • It's to Professor McWorter's credit that he developed the right idea from a vague representation of an obscure intuition.
   • In the voice, words are flooded with soulful intentionality; the soul emerges briefly from the obscure corporeal dark and is suddenly there.
   • In doing so, it reflects the manner in which Kafka himself has gradually become indistinguishable from the obscure fascination at the heart of his writings.
   • Tilting my head to the side, I felt the smooth cotton of his shirt on my cheek, just as I had Ryan's, and found my eyes drawn back into the obscure depths of his dark eyes.

   Synonyms

   indistinct, faint, vague, ill-defined, unclear, blurred, blurry, misty, hazy, foggy, veiled, cloudy, clouded, nebulous, fuzzy
4. 1.4 (of a color) not sharply defined; dim or dingy.

1Keep from being seen; conceal.

1. 1.1 Make unclear and difficult to understand.
   the debate has become obscured by conflicting ideological perspectives

   Example sentencesExamples

   • This seems to be another case of journalism that is intended to obscure the facts rather than shine light on them.
   • Such an analysis obscures the relation between miscarriages at different stages of gestation and maternal age.
   • Which is to say, the habitual use of labels obscures the individual rather than illuminates.
   • Yet, whilst making headline news, coverage of the scandal is aimed at obscuring any real understanding of the issues involved.
   • They can obscure the issues rather than providing clarification.
   • In this context, it's a terrible shame that Strange Gardens, even though based on a true incident, only serves to obscure those difficult matters all over again.
   • Competing agendas, dismissed administrators and shrill representatives often obscure the facts rather than inform the public.
   • Once in a while, it would be refreshing to hear these supporters condemn the actions of those few, rather than obscuring their behaviour behind the genuine upset of the innocent others.
   • I hope that those who participate in this great debate will frame their arguments in language that clarifies the issues rather than obscures them.
   • Being transparent in one's practice rather than obscuring the process of design
   • Rather than obscuring the line of separation between church and sport, the authorities would serve hockey well by understanding the distinction.
   • It is not that the form of political campaigns has obscured their content: rather, their form has become their content.
   • Abroad, his prestige as a Nobel laureate obscured these difficulties.
   • The network news means to correct this tendency, but unclear language obscures the truth, no matter in whose interest one employs it.
   • It is thankfully the most obtuse piece here, and the only one in which that obtuseness obscures the song rather than aiding it.
   • We understand that anti-Semitism obscures the reality of what it is to be a Jew, and has enabled atrocities great and small to be committed upon the Jewish people.
   • His time in the war rose between us like a vaporous cloud that silenced his pain and obscured my ability to understand it.
   • It tends to obscure the problem rather than highlight it, because we do not try and suggest that a company becomes a trustee for the creditors upon the winding-up.
   • By the same token, it could be said, historical falsification is bound up with efforts to obscure an understanding of the present.
   • This year's theme also continues the habit of taking the Holocaust out of its historical context, and thus obscuring a true understanding of what it was about.

   Synonyms

   confuse, complicate, obfuscate, cloud, blur, muddy
2. 1.2 Overshadow.
   none of this should obscure the skill, experience, and perseverance of the workers

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Much is made of Timbaland's undoubted skill as a producer, in fact so much is made of it that he seems to overshadow and obscure the artists he works with these days.
   • More recently you postponed your announcement because, you said, you didn't want it being overshadowed or obscured by your little legal matter.
   • By implying that Claire uncovered some dark family secret, Maurice also obscures the real scandal - that, because of a lack of places in children's homes, a number of orphaned kids were institutionalised for life.
   • First, he argued, in data aggregated at the state level, large districts may overshadow or obscure smaller districts.
   • But Kulbert can write, too, a fact obscured by his first skill.
   • In other words, it is possible for the profiling code to overshadow or obscure a performance problem.
   • The violent countdown to elections often obscures how that country is charting its new course on the world stage.
   • Exploring a subject that has involved controversies and sensitivities, their research revealed an important story that was obscured for 50 years.
   • This approach only detracts and obscures what is really happening.