obfuscate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make unclear or hard to understand, especially deliberately.
Do not obfuscate the issue with irrelevant detail.
-
to confuse or bewilder.
The authors achieve their purpose without obfuscating the reader by using too much technical terminology.
- Antonyms:
- illuminate, clarify
-
to darken.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to obscure or darken
-
to perplex or bewilder
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
obfuscatesimple
-
obfuscatessimple
-
have obfuscatedperfect
-
has obfuscatedperfect
-
am obfuscatingprogressive
-
are obfuscatingprogressive
-
is obfuscatingprogressive
-
have been obfuscatingperfect progressive
-
has been obfuscatingperfect progressive
Past
-
obfuscatedsimple
-
had obfuscatedperfect
-
was obfuscatingprogressive
-
were obfuscatingprogressive
-
had been obfuscatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of obfuscate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Late Latin obfuscātus “darkened,” past participle of obfuscāre “to darken,” from Latin ob- ob- + fusc(us) “dark” + -āre, infinitive suffix
Explanation
Some people are experts at obfuscating the truth by being evasive, unclear, or obscure in the telling of the facts. The people who are good at obfuscating would include defense lawyers and teenagers asked about their plans for Saturday night. Although the verb obfuscate can be used in any case where something is darkened, less clear, or more obscure, it is most frequently used in reference to things like ideas, facts, issues, or the truth. The usual implied meaning is that this obfuscation is done deliberately. Politicians often obfuscate the truth about the issues to win support for their positions so they can win elections.
Vocabulary lists containing obfuscate
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A Web of Lies
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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:
Google recently detected an even bigger threat in the wild: bot-enabled software that can obfuscate its own code to evade detection and create new malicious capabilities on the fly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 27, 2025
While Ferguson gets ample time to obfuscate, other, better scholars get little time to squeeze in some truth.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025
In court documents, Mr Garcia's lawyers accused the US government of trying to "delay, obfuscate and flout court orders, while a man's life and safety is at risk".
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2025
But the more ridiculous elements of Patel’s activism can obfuscate the fact that he has already been accused of genuinely dangerous activity.
From Slate ● Dec. 5, 2024
At least Fyrian never attempted to deflect or obfuscate Luna’s many questions.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
That’s how power obfuscates unseemly machinations: by claiming to be doing the opposite.
From Salon ● Mar. 18, 2025
It was a scene rarely seen in Western Washington, which so often obfuscates celestial phenomena with clouds stretching so far into the horizon you wonder if they ever end.
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2024
Chinese commentators and the public have widely criticized the death toll, saying it obfuscates the real picture and hurts the government’s credibility.
From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2022
But the persistence of the chemical myth of depression obfuscates this kind of decision-making.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2022
In such a state I was, and I assume many of us are, in respect to the principle of "development" which obfuscates pedagogy, in its connection with the rudiments.
From Fables for Children, Stories for Children, Natural Science Stories, Popular Education, Decembrists, Moral Tales by Tolstoy, Leo, graf
The author now alleges that Euracare has "stalled and muddied and obfuscated" over the inquest and has requested Nigeria's Federal High Court block the inquiry.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
“Pratt running has kind of obfuscated the differences between Raman and Bass,” Mitchell said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
However, it can still benefit from the privacy and security benefits of encryption or obfuscated servers, particularly in regions that heavily restrict internet access.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026
Like some previous videos released by the US government, a section of the boat is obfuscated for unspecified reasons.
From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025
They acted slowly and without resolve, they backtracked, they obfuscated, they spoke with a small hesitant voice when what was needed was a howl.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Lawyers for the group contended that the city was obfuscating to cover up its inadequate efforts to comply with its settlement.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
DiNanno said the Chinese military “sought to conceal testing by obfuscating the nuclear explosions because it recognized these tests violate test ban commitments.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
And if creators can get their subjects to participate only by obfuscating what they intend to do, the end result cannot be totally true.
From Slate ● Oct. 13, 2025
And so they're kind of deliberately obfuscating what the court's order is in order to serve their legal interest in the case.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2025
Let us note step by step the chain of what passes in us, without obfuscating our minds by any terms of the schools or any antecedent principle.
From Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire
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.
