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obscurant

[uh b-skyoo r-uh nt]
noun
  1. a person who strives to prevent the increase and spread of knowledge.
  2. a person who obscures.
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adjective
  1. pertaining to or characteristic of obscurants.
  2. tending to make obscure.
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Origin of obscurant

1790–1800; < Latin obscūrant- (stem of obscūrāns, present participle of obscūrāre), equivalent to obscūr(us) dark + -ant- -ant
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for obscurant

Historical Examples

  • Whoever confessed his faith in the truths of the Bible was called an obscurant.

    Life of Luther

    Gustav Just

  • Shun double-entendres, prurient jocosity, and pestiferous profanity, obscurant or apparent.

  • Overhead the ionic field was aglow, humming softly, beating back the obscurant mists.

    One Purple Hope!

    Henry Hasse

British Dictionary definitions for obscurant

obscurant

noun
  1. an opposer of reform and enlightenment
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adjective
  1. of or relating to an obscurant
  2. causing obscurity
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Derived Formsobscurantism, nounobscurantist, noun, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for obscurant

adj.

1878, from Latin obscurantem (nominative obscurans), present participle of obscurare (see obscure (v.)).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper