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
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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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:
Yet, if left abstract, they can obscure the real human people by whom and for whom these laws were enacted.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026
Say a kid’s soccer team requires parents to create an account on an obscure website.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Ibrahima Konate rolled up their pre-game T-shirts ahead of Real Madrid's match at Elche on Tuesday to obscure the message of support for the people of Ceuta.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
"In that framework, gluons inside a nucleus partially overlap and obscure each other -- similar to layers of clouds blocking sunlight -- reducing the probability of certain particle production processes," he said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026
“You won’t see me, you’ll be crying so hard that the thick fog round you will obscure the prospect.”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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
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
There he demanded one of the obscurer works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
From Time Magazine Archive
The two accounts are essentially the same, but the Abrahamic version is so much fuller and clearer that it illumines the obscurer parts of the Mosaic account.
From Joseph Smith as Scientist A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy by John Andreas Widtsoe
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
In the largest cities, in the obscurest villages, tears flowed from all eyes.
From The Branding Needle, or The Monastery of Charolles A Tale of the First Communal Charter by Eugène Sue
The Fiend once evolved from the obscurest depths of his inner consciousness a truly fearful and alarming plan.
From Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2) or Settler and Maori in Northern New Zealand by William Delisle Hay
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
But his intimidating onyx armor obscures all that, much in the way Darth Vader’s helmet and cloak overcompensate for his shriveled form.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
Now, time is running out on the bird as the rising tide of concrete, scaffolding and rebar obscures Pinky from pedestrian view along the south side of Colorado Boulevard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
That narrative obscures the real success and failure of the man who presided as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987-2006.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Just like in our room, where a window should be on the outer wall, a metal insert obscures the view outside to the stars, and maybe my first view of Sagan.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
He wore a dark hoodie cinched around his face and a rubber mask that obscured everything but his eyes.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Within a minute, the report says, dense smoke had obscured the camera.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
“Due to Defendants’ wrongful actions, Demon Hunter’s established identity is becoming increasingly obscured within recorded music, live touring and merchandise-related channels due to overlapping use by the KPop Demon Hunters brand,” the lawsuit states.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
"Everything was foggy, you couldn't open the window and it stank," she said, showing a picture on her phone of an orange glow partially obscured by thick smoke clouds that had turned the air black.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
He’d lit a smudge and a candle so that his face was clear in the handful of light and obscured by the handfuls of smoke.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
While most of the players wore the shirts fully, Mbappe, Vinicius and Konate had theirs rolled up to around chest height, obscuring some of the slogan.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
In such an environment, making firm-level ROI the primary measure of success is misguided; worse, it risks obscuring why firms must invest in AI at all.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
But for my money, there is too much tedious, mealymouthed chaff obscuring what should be her larger point.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Now, policies are seemingly directed at obscuring conditions in the for-profit facility operated by The GEO Group.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
This time it pierces the now nearly shredded paper in between the words “audiences” and “spectacle,” obscuring the “with” completely.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
