obscure

adjective

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ob·scure | \ äb-ˈskyu̇r

, əb- \

Definition of obscure

(Entry 1 of 3)

1a : 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

obscure

verb

ob·scure | \ äb-ˈskyu̇r

, əb- \

obscured; obscuring

Definition of obscure (Entry 2 of 3)

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\

obscure

noun

ob·scure | \ äb-ˈskyu̇r

, əb- \

Definition of obscure (Entry 3 of 3)

: obscurity

Other Words from obscure Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More About obscure

Other Words from obscure

Adjective

obscurely adverb

obscureness noun

Verb

obscuration \ ˌäb-skyu̇-ˈrā-shən

\ noun

Choose the Right Synonym for obscure

Adjective

obscure, dark, vague, enigmatic, cryptic, ambiguous, equivocal mean not clearly understandable. obscure implies a hiding or veiling of meaning through some inadequacy of expression or withholding of full knowledge. obscure poems dark implies an imperfect or clouded revelation often with ominous or sinister suggestion. muttered dark hints of revenge vague implies a lack of clear formulation due to inadequate conception or consideration. a vague sense of obligation enigmatic stresses a puzzling, mystifying quality. enigmatic occult writings cryptic implies a purposely concealed meaning. cryptic hints of hidden treasure ambiguous applies to language capable of more than one interpretation. an ambiguous directive equivocal applies to language left open to differing interpretations with the intention of deceiving or evading. moral precepts with equivocal phrasing

Examples of obscure in a Sentence

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 The show entailed a fictional character named Dr. Gregory House that was gruff, insufferable, and quite unconventional, yet he was portrayed as a medical genius that could ferret out the most obscure of diseases and ailments. — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 3 Aug. 2022 The Heat cannot send Bam Adebayo to the Nets because of the obscure rule that prevents teams from acquiring two players on rookie max extensions. — Gary Washburn, BostonGlobe.com, 30 July 2022 The work spanned the well known and the obscure, and the connections between them ranged from obvious to unfathomable. — Raffi Khatchadourian, The New Yorker, 9 May 2022 Celebrating the role of the obscure and dispossessed in the Revolution. — Wsj Books Staff, WSJ, 14 Jan. 2022 None were more obscure than Haas, one of the smallest Formula 1 teams, and the first based in America since the 1980s. — New York Times, 14 July 2022 In nations such as Russia and China, which Uber also exited, the pathways to power were obscure to outsiders, and homegrown competitors could dominate. — Ian Duncan, Washington Post, 11 July 2022 While Epstein appeared to be wealthy, living in a massive townhouse and giving large sums of money to a wide variety of causes and institutions, the source of his money is obscure. — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, 28 June 2022 Juneteenth has had celebrations in many Black communities … but has been obscure elsewhere. — Mike Hughes, The Enquirer, 17 June 2022 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Cloud cover and wildfire smoke will be important factors to watch out for, as either could obscure the meteor shower completely. — oregonlive, 2 Aug. 2022 Steps need to be taken to ease consistent analysis of first time rules and the erratic inventory of Long-term ones, since both may obscure as well as reveal trends. — Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., Forbes, 28 June 2022 And even muddy data can’t fully obscure what people are seeing on the ground. — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 5 May 2022 The transparent screen doesn't obscure the real environment or the real people in it. — Ari Grobman, Forbes, 19 July 2022 This should not obscure the admirable track record on social issues by the Rays, who have celebrated Pride Night for 16 years. — New York Times, 6 June 2022 Among the younger justices are three appointees of former President Donald Trump, and the court’s historic diversity won’t obscure its conservative tilt. — Mark Sherman, chicagotribune.com, 8 Apr. 2022 But that should not obscure the more pertinent truth that payrolls, and for that matter records, guarantee nothing once the postseason starts. — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2022 That shouldn't obscure how impressive this run was. — Erick Smith, USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2022 See More

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

First Known Use of obscure

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

History and Etymology for obscure

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