1
as in ambiguous
having an often intentionally veiled or uncertain meaning
a fantasy writer who likes to put lots of obscure references and images in her tales of wizards and warlocks
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in unknown
not widely known
he's an obscure artist now, but he's sure to be famous someday
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3
as in darkened
being without light or without much light
hid in an obscure spot among the trees
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4
as in vague
not seen or understood clearly
a distinction so obscure that only the experts can really see it
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1
as in to conceal
to keep secret or shut off from view
the investigative reporters obscured their real motives for visiting the company by pretending the story was about something else
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2
as in to blur
to make dark, dim, or indistinct
when it isn't obscured by smog, the view of the city from the observatory can be spectacular
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of obscure
Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Twin Cities, 24 Aug. 2025
Seeing that marmot offshoot with his twitchy little nose and beady eyes, clutched by an obscure local bureaucrat, conjures hope for the year to come.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2025
Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Aug. 2025
International student arrivals showed a smaller decline when comparing year-to-date data, which may obscure the impact of a drop in new enrollment.
—Stuart Anderson, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for obscure
Adjective
Sci-fi geeks have long worshipped an obscure TV show about a futuristic Moonbase Alpha and its spacecraft fleet of Eagles.
—Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Twin Cities, 24 Aug. 2025
Seeing that marmot offshoot with his twitchy little nose and beady eyes, clutched by an obscure local bureaucrat, conjures hope for the year to come.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2025
Verb
From left: Jocelyn looks at the picture from her wedding, showing herself, her husband, and the groom's mom (face obscured).
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Aug. 2025
International student arrivals showed a smaller decline when comparing year-to-date data, which may obscure the impact of a drop in new enrollment.
—Stuart Anderson, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for obscure
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obscure
Adjective
-
If your investments in AI for claims processing are yielding ambiguous outcomes, the root causes will almost definitely be found upstream.—
Charles Wong,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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Conflicting messaging and ambiguous guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration shook up the usual launch of annual vaccines.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
27 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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There is currently no information about the containment efforts for the fire and its cause remains unknown.—
CA WILDFIRE BOT,
Sacbee.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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But when his seedy neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), skips town and leaves him with a key that unlocks unknown valuables, Hank becomes the unwitting target of bloodthirsty gangsters.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
28 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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My ideas around him were vague and uninformed, mostly of the stiff host tolerating the younger acts.—
Nina Metz,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Aug. 2025
-
The law is vague and broad and included no room for considering the literary merit of the work, and so the result was a wave of book bans across the state.—
Peter Greene,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Verb
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To conceal her sexuality in an effort not to have her photography marginalized.—
Chadd Scott,
Forbes.com,
30 Aug. 2025
-
Erik discussed using a fake ID to conceal his identity and recounted the events leading to the murders, citing intense fear and the belief that fleeing would have been a death sentence.—
Matthew J. Friedman,
CNN Money,
24 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Further blurring the metafictional line, Paul McCartney and Elton John show up in the sequel as themselves, and actually play with the band.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
31 Aug. 2025
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Through her work, Adams blurs the line between artist and activist, performance and practice, making each appearance not just a show but a social and spiritual offering.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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However, it was discovered earlier this week that a recent, almost silent, filing with the SEC suggests their next frontier is something far more cryptic.—
Emma Kershaw,
Forbes.com,
21 Aug. 2025
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The library’s encyclopedias, clear and sedative beside the Bible’s cryptic thrills, still misled; Ruth lived for decades in an alternate reality containing Zanzibar and dipsomania.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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For the Connecticut Sun and its fans, the past is prideful, the future is murky.—
Dom Amore,
Hartford Courant,
18 Aug. 2025
-
Stafford’s status at training camp has been murky, to say the least.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
18 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The vodka is crisp with faint cooked cereal aromas.—
Joseph V Micallef,
Forbes.com,
23 Aug. 2025
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But soon, a faint tightness crept into his left foot.—
Jordan Greene,
People.com,
22 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Obscure.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obscure. Accessed 3 Sep. 2025.
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