obscure
Americanadjective
-
(of meaning) not clear or plain; ambiguous, vague, or uncertain.
an obscure sentence in the contract.
- Antonyms:
- certain
-
not clear to the understanding; hard to perceive.
obscure motivations.
-
(of language, style, a speaker, etc.) not expressing the meaning clearly or plainly.
-
indistinct to the sight or any other sense; not readily seen, heard, etc.; faint.
- Synonyms:
- veiled
- Antonyms:
- clear
-
inconspicuous or unnoticeable.
the obscure beginnings of a great movement.
-
of little or no prominence, note, fame, or distinction.
an obscure French artist.
- Synonyms:
- unknown, undistinguished
- Antonyms:
- conspicuous, noted
-
far from public notice, worldly affairs, or important activities; remote; retired.
an obscure little town.
- Synonyms:
- inconspicuous, secluded
-
lacking in light or illumination; dark; dim; murky.
an obscure back room.
- Antonyms:
- bright
-
enveloped in, concealed by, or frequenting darkness.
-
not bright or lustrous; dull or darkish, as color or appearance.
-
(of a vowel) having the reduced or neutral sound usually represented by the schwa (ə).
verb (used with object)
-
obscures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
obscured,
past participle, past
-
obscuring
present participle
-
to conceal or conceal by confusing (the meaning of a statement, poem, etc.).
-
to make dark, dim, indistinct, etc.
-
to reduce or neutralize (a vowel) to the sound usually represented by a schwa (ə).
noun
adjective
-
unclear or abstruse
-
indistinct, vague, or indefinite
-
inconspicuous or unimportant
-
hidden, secret, or remote
-
(of a vowel) reduced to or transformed into a neutral vowel ( ə )
-
gloomy, dark, clouded, or dim
verb
-
to make unclear, vague, or hidden
-
to cover or cloud over
-
phonetics to pronounce (a vowel) with articulation that causes it to become a neutral sound represented by ( ə )
noun
Synonym Usage
See mysterious. See dark.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
obscurationnoun
-
obscurenessnoun
-
subobscurenessnoun
-
unobscurenessnoun
-
subobscureadjective
-
unobscureadjective
-
unobscuredadjective
-
obscuredlyadverb
-
obscurelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
obscuresimple
-
obscuressimple
-
have obscuredperfect
-
has obscuredperfect
-
am obscuringprogressive
-
are obscuringprogressive
-
is obscuringprogressive
-
have been obscuringperfect progressive
-
has been obscuringperfect progressive
Past
-
obscuredsimple
-
had obscuredperfect
-
was obscuringprogressive
-
were obscuringprogressive
-
had been obscuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of obscure
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Old French oscur, obscur, from Latin obscūrus “dark”
Explanation
If something is obscure, it's vague and hard to see. Be careful if you're driving in heavy rain — the painted lines can be obscure. Obscure comes from Latin obscurus, which can mean "dark, dim," "unclear, hard to understand," or "insignificant, humble." We tend to use obscure in the metaphorical senses: an obscure sound is unclear, an obscure village is hidden away in the countryside, and an obscure poet is little known and probably insignificant. Obscure can also be used as a verb. If you get really nervous when you speak during a debate, your embarrassing twitches and shaking hands can obscure your argument.
Vocabulary lists containing obscure
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 3
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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.
See Examples For:
This type of logic, which determines the law of the land by interpreting obscure bits of history over utilizing common sense, is what Gladwell calls “bananas.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom is an obscure corner of the industrial real-estate business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
The stock market will face stiff headwinds over the next 12 months, according to an obscure indicator with an enviable track record.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
The extra lunar light, however, may obscure some of the meteors, so be patient and leave time for your eyes to adjust.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
In the farthest balcony, unaccompanied women in masks raised their fans to obscure their pox-marks, observed by men guessing at identity.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Or as Folger’s artistic director, Janet Griffin, said to me one time, in reference to another of Shakespeare’s obscurer dramas, “Pericles”: “We are looking for what the play is saying to us today.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 27, 2017
I suggested moving to an obscurer table in the rear.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 19, 2010
There he demanded one of the obscurer works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
From Time Magazine Archive
Even her obscurer books have something about them that attracts popular attention, for more than most stylists, she writes about the common gist of things.
From Time Magazine Archive
Foremost amongst the former come two texts of Cæsar, one applying to the well-known Belgæ of the continent, the others to certain obscurer Belgæ of Great Britain.
From The Ethnology of the British Islands by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham
Feel grateful we live in a time when the obscurest, niche-iest, weirdest series you love got a chance to exist.
From Slate ● Dec. 20, 2018
Coetzee calls him "the obscurest of the obscure, so obscure as to be a prodigy."
From Time Magazine Archive
"The obscurest epoch is today," wrote Robert Louis Stevenson.
From Time Magazine Archive
The obscurest among us has his place in the Divine plan, his lesson to learn, his work to do.
From John the Baptist by F. B. (Frederick Brotherton) Meyer
Rich and poor knelt together upon their marble pavements, and the imperial altar welcomed the obscurest artisan.
From Life Without and Life Within or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and poems. by Margaret Fuller
Attributing accountability to artificial intelligence obscures the human decisions that led to these outcomes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The next time the Moon obscures as much of the Sun on the British Isles will be in 2081, and the next total solar eclipse in the UK will be in 2090.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
The hagiographic tone of “The Man Will Burn” obscures that.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
But more than that, it obscures the reality and erases the history of transgender lives by diminishing the significant time, money, and effort many transgender people spend to align their body with their sex.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
The crowd obscures the waterfront, his favorite cafe.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
She added that the scaffolding meant she sometimes had to keep the lights on during the day, particularly in her son's bedroom which is obscured by a metal guard.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Over time, tectonic deformation, erosion, burial beneath sedimentary basins, and a younger episode of volcanic activity during the Eocene obscured much of the evidence of its existence.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
That’s what happens when a subject is obscured by layers of semi-permeable barriers of their own making: Eventually, the image distorts.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026
Gray regularly mines his commercial archive for images of entertainers, though he frequently presents them with their faces obscured, as a stand-in for larger ideas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
I wanted no one to see me, and the storm swirled its eddies of snow around me and obscured me from the world.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
However, a weather front moving into the far north may bring increasing cloud, potentially obscuring views in some areas.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
But for my money, there is too much tedious, mealymouthed chaff obscuring what should be her larger point.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
However, those same cold traps could also collect organic compounds released by visiting spacecraft, potentially obscuring the pristine material scientists hope to study.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026
In total, more than 1.7 million satellites could soon be lighting up the night sky, obscuring or blotting out the view of ground-based telescopes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Her- schel had been misled because of the copious amount of obscuring dust in the direction of Sagittarius; he had no way to know of the enormous numbers of stars beyond.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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