obfuscate

verb

ob·fus·cate | \ ˈäb-fə-ˌskāt;

äb-ˈfə-ˌskāt, əb-\

obfuscated; obfuscating

Definition of obfuscate

transitive verb

1a : to throw into shadow : darken

b : to make obscure obfuscate the issue officials who … continue to obscure and obfuscate what happened— Mary Carroll

2 : confuse obfuscate the reader

intransitive verb

: to be evasive, unclear, or confusing The suspect often obfuscated during the interrogation.

Other Words from obfuscate Synonyms & Antonyms Try to Understand the Roots of Obfuscate More Example Sentences Learn More about obfuscate

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Other Words from obfuscate

obfuscation \ ˌäb-(ˌ)fə-ˈskā-shən

\ noun

obfuscatory \ äb-ˈfə-skə-ˌtȯr-ē ,

əb- \ adjective

Synonyms & Antonyms for obfuscate

Synonyms

becloud, befog, blur, cloud, confuse, fog, muddy

Antonyms

clarify, clear (up), illuminate

Try to Understand the Roots of Obfuscate

To obfuscate something means to make it so that it isn't clear or transparent, much like dirty water makes it hard to see to the bottom of a pond. The verb shares its ob- root (meaning "over, completely") with obscure, another word that can refer to the act of concealing something or making it more difficult to see or understand. The rest of obfuscate comes from Latin fuscus, which means "dark brown" and is distantly related to our word dusk.

Examples of obfuscate in a Sentence

Politicians keep obfuscating the issues. Their explanations only serve to obfuscate and confuse.

Recent Examples on the Web

The company allegedly didn’t openly communicate results, and at times purposely obfuscated them, to both consumers and the Food and Drug Administration. — Cheryl Wischhover, Vox, "Johnson & Johnson accused of hiding the asbestos in its baby powder for decades," 14 Dec. 2018 The Trump administration was perhaps employing a brilliant disinformation campaign; more likely, this was a hopelessly chaotic attempt to obfuscate its own policy. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, "The Genesis of Trump’s Family-Separation Policy," 22 June 2018 Trump critics say that claim is specious and obfuscates the current administration's break with standard practice. — Nick Miroff, chicagotribune.com, "Trump's 'zero tolerance' at the border is causing child shelters to near capacity," 29 May 2018 But that explanation might obfuscate the social and economic dynamics underlying the results. — Washington Post, "Italy just voted for two very different kinds of populism," 28 Mar. 2018 That page, using an obfuscated JavaScript, forwards the victim to another website, which in turn forwards to the site applesecurityrisks.xyz—a fake Apple Support page. — Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica, "Click on this iOS phishing scam and you’ll be connected to “Apple Care”," 30 July 2018 Reaching across oceans and into networks without borders can obfuscate their origins. — Tami Abdollah, The Seattle Times, "Prosecutors: Russian hackers exploit US cyber vulnerability," 17 July 2018 In those days, though, the word hadn’t slipped into obfuscating overuse yet; even Clinton was able to take a small step beyond its veil. — Carina Chocano, New York Times, "‘Inappropriate’ Behavior Could Mean a Faux Pas — Or a Crime," 19 June 2018 This positive image obfuscates the real purpose of elite schools: From their inception, the core function of elite schools is to make, remake, or advance the socioeconomic status of each student. — Adam Howard, Vox, "I’ve spent decades studying elite schools. Here’s how their culture enables toxic masculinity.," 27 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'obfuscate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for obfuscate

borrowed from Late Latin obfuscātus, offuscātus, past participle of obfuscāre, offuscāre "to obscure, darken, depreciate," from Latin ob-, perfective prefix + -fuscāre, verbal derivative of fuscus "dark-colored, somber, dark-skinned or -complected" — more at ob-, dusk entry 1