obscurity
Americannoun
plural
obscurities-
the state or quality of being obscure.
-
the condition of being unknown.
He lived in obscurity for years before winning acclaim.
-
uncertainty of meaning or expression; ambiguity.
-
an unknown or unimportant person or thing.
-
darkness; dimness; indistinctness.
noun
-
the state or quality of being obscure
-
an obscure person or thing
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of obscurity
1470–80; late Middle English < Middle French obscurite < Latin obscūritās, equivalent to obscūr ( us ) obscure + -itās -ity
Explanation
One meaning of obscurity is nobody knowing who you are, and another definition is something that is hard to understand because it’s too complex or unclear. Obscurity is the opposite of fame, and living in obscurity means that nobody knows your name. Many musicians played in obscurity for years before becoming rock stars. The Latin obscurus means “dark,” which is where obscurity is found: in the dark where no one sees it. Something difficult to comprehend has obscurity, for example the obscurity of a medical magazine, or a complex poem that is full of literary obscurities, referencing other poems that no one has read.
Vocabulary lists containing obscurity
The Maze Runner
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Pygmalion
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"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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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.
Last year, instead of releasing her first book, called Obscurity, as physical copies in High Street bookstores, or as a Kindle version to download, she started to self-publish chapters as email instalments.
From BBC • Nov. 13, 2022
Obscurity suited Ms. Ingalls, who grew up near Boston, the daughter of a Harvard Sanskrit professor, and found herself drawn to England by the quadricentennial celebrations of Shakespeare’s birth in 1964.
From Washington Post • Mar. 21, 2019
Obscurity is a threat to Wolff no longer.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 4, 2018
Alberini dominated the 54-boat class, finishing first in five of 11 races and beating runner-up Relative Obscurity, owned by Peter Duncan of Rye, New York, by a dozen points.
From Washington Times • Jan. 22, 2016
Obscurity was imminent; but light yet came from the west, escaping low and clean.
From Harbor Tales Down North With an Appreciation by Wilfred T. Grenfell, M.D. by Duncan, Norman
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.
