as in confusing
to make (something) unclear to the understanding
irrelevant matters that only serve to obfuscate the fundamental issue of guilt or innocence
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Recent Examples of obfuscating
Lawyers for the group contend that the city is willfully obfuscating to cover up its inadequate efforts to live up to its settlement.
—
Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2026
The state says the foundation did this because Aerial Recovery, the nonprofit, had been obfuscating its name.
—Evan Mealins, Nashville Tennessean, 24 Oct. 2025
Some data types can be encrypted randomly, obfuscating enough of the data to stymie hackers—such as using only the last four digits of your credit to confirm your purchase identity.
—Srinivas Shekar, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2026
The state says the foundation did this because Aerial Recovery, the nonprofit, had been obfuscating its name.
—Evan Mealins, Nashville Tennessean, 24 Oct. 2025
Some data types can be encrypted randomly, obfuscating enough of the data to stymie hackers—such as using only the last four digits of your credit to confirm your purchase identity.
—Srinivas Shekar, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obfuscating
Verb
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For example, during a recent power outage in San Francisco, autonomous robotaxis got stuck at intersections, blocking emergency vehicles and confusing other drivers.—
Murugan Anandarajan,
The Conversation,
22 Jan. 2026
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The projectionist showed the second reel first, and as my grandfather said, the film was already confusing enough.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
21 Jan. 2026
Verb
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But an edited — and realistic — image of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong in tears after being arrested is raising new alarms about how the administration is blurring the lines between what is real and what is fake.—
Kaitlyn Huamani,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Jan. 2026
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Both Gemini telescopes are known for advanced observing techniques that help counteract the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere.—
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry,
Space.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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This may be because the nucleus accumbens, the other reward region that some participants learned to ramp up, didn’t have the same connection to immune response, muddying the results.—
Allison Parshall,
Scientific American,
19 Jan. 2026
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Injuries are muddying the market for players such as Coby White, who has played fewer than half of the games this season because of recurring calf injuries.—
Colleen Kane,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Obfuscating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obfuscating. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.
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