obfuscate
verb
Mary Carroll
Did you know?
Try to Understand the Roots of Obfuscate
“Hello darkness, my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again.” So begins the classic 1960s Simon and Garfunkel song “The Sound of Silence,” which was written by Paul Simon with a seemingly oxymoronic title that has obfuscated—that is, confused—ten thousand people, maybe more (probably a lot more) in the decades since. It confuses us too, but we’re not above being oxymoronic ourselves when we say that darkness, our old friend, shines a helpful light on the meaning of the word obfuscate. When obfuscate first came into use in the early 16th century, it was with the meaning “to throw into shadow.” This makes sense, since the word comes from the Latin obfuscāre (“to obscure or darken”) which itself comes in part from fuscus (“dark-colored”). The word was used for both figurative and literal darkening before developing the even more figurative senses of “to make more difficult to understand,” “to be evasive or unclear,” and “to confuse,” which in modern use are now more common.
Examples of obfuscate in a Sentence
Srinivas Shekar, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
Full disclosure, from the outset, is preferable to selective, partial disclosures designed to obfuscate and protect a candidate from public scrutiny.
—Chicago Tribune, 23 June 2025
After devoting countless man-hours to obfuscating in courtrooms and legal briefs, the administration has finally availed itself of this obvious option.
—The Editors, National Review, 7 June 2025
For years, Biden’s team lied and distracted and misled and obfuscated, and attacked anyone and everyone who declined to follow suit.
—The Editors, National Review, 19 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for obfuscate
Cite this Entry
“Obfuscate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obfuscate. Accessed 13 Jul. 2025.
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