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:
She was inspired by a social-media post with research showing AI agents linked to OpenAI had secretly messaged each other using obscure German websites in May.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
With that, “Chronovisor” and its obsessed protagonist enter a trancelike, analog-heavy state in which obscure texts in myriad languages tease a concealed parascientific history of potentially great importance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
It said it was "concocted well after the event in an attempt to obscure and conceal the realities of the disguised funding scheme".
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
Growing up, I was one of those reflexively contrarian teenagers who hated anything popular and found value in almost anything obscure, independent or weird.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
No record of how she felt when agents from the Bureau of Investigation—an obscure branch of the Justice Department that, in 1935, would be renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation—finally arrived in town.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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
How much do time, circumstance, and humour, place the same truth in a clearer or obscurer aspect!
From The Philosophy of History, Vol. 1 of 2 by Friedrich Schlegel
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
"The obscurest epoch is today," wrote Robert Louis Stevenson.
From Time Magazine Archive
Coetzee calls him "the obscurest of the obscure, so obscure as to be a prodigy."
From Time Magazine Archive
It was now day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the obscurest night, though it was in some degree dissipated by torches and lights of various kinds.
From Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror by Richard Linthicum
It opens with a strange poem called The Shadow of Night, which Mr. Swinburne is not wrong in classing among the obscurest works in English.
From A History of Elizabethan Literature by George Saintsbury
The generic disclaimer that the ad was paid for by the federal government obscures which agency might be responsible, Kappel said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Military authorities put effort into messaging that ultimately obscures responsibility and causality, and family members who speak out sometimes fear real repercussions for themselves and loved ones.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
There’s a certain philosophy to dressing the body in Japan where the clothing obscures the body.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
But he believes the complicated ownership picture that now obscures who owns some of these buildings - or who the tenants are - is another difficulty in protecting at risk sites.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
He takes his top hat from its stand and puts it on her head, where it slides down and obscures her questioning eyes in a cage of black silk.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Rare compounds can easily be obscured by other chemicals that occur in much larger quantities.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
The Journal published an investigation last year reporting that the two men were officers of Epstein entities that obscured transactions, arranged cash for Epstein, made payments to women and facilitated Epstein’s immigration schemes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
He wore a dark hoodie cinched around his face and a rubber mask that obscured everything but his eyes.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 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
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
Yet this “stability” is at best an aspiration and, more likely, happy talk obscuring an actively deteriorating relationship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
The firm has also been accused of obscuring its production processes from the public eye.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 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
A man stepped out of the crowd of torchbearers, his black beard obscuring half his face, his eyes glittering in the torchlight.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
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.
