obfuscation
Britishnoun
Explanation
The act of obscuring something to make it more difficult to understand is called obfuscation. Lawyers are sometimes accused of obfuscation, since legal contracts can be so difficult to understand. The word obfuscation is from the verb obfuscate, which itself comes from the Latin word obfuscare, meaning "to darken." The confusion that results when something is muddled or obfuscated is also called obfuscation. If you intentionally make something more complex or more difficult to see or understand, then you are guilty of obfuscation.
Vocabulary lists containing obfuscation
Paper Towns
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Flora and Ulysses
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Strange the Dreamer
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Obfuscation is not an academic tome, and it doesn’t delve into conceptual analyses on its core principles, such as anonymity in crowds following David Chaum, or linkability following Andreas Pfitzmann.
From The Guardian • Oct. 24, 2015
In their new book, Obfuscation: A User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest, they advocate taking evasive action, or what they call obfuscation.
From Slate • Sep. 14, 2015
Obfuscation, not money, remains the VA’s most pressing problem.
From Washington Times • Jun. 23, 2014
Obfuscation technologies do not alter the fact that someone is watching your communications.
From Time • Dec. 23, 2013
Obfuscation engenders in Americans a pure lack of trust for their most important institutions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
