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:
To be sure, with stocks near record territory on Friday, nervous investors had plenty of other things to worry about besides obscure technicals.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
That overwhelming amount of ordinary DNA can obscure the much rarer fragments associated with early cancer, making them harder and more expensive to find.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
However, this is unlikely to be thick enough to obscure the sun, he added.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
She said she has enjoyed meeting people through the app—a common refrain among users who say they have bonded with others over obscure interests—but wishes she used it less.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Had Darwin looked carefully through the books in his voluminous library, he might have found a reference to an obscure paper by a little-known botanist from Brno.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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
There he demanded one of the obscurer works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Who would decide whether the obscurer passages should be understood according to the bare sound of the words, or if a more spiritual meaning were applicable?--Synods?
From The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli by Johann Jakob Hottinger
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
The obscurest sayings of the truly great are often those which contain the germ of the profoundest and most useful truths.—Mazzini.
From Pearls of Thought by Maturin Murray Ballou
I know it all from its broad faubourgs to its obscurest cul de sac.
From Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by N. Parker Willis
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
Velvet wingback chairs flank a fireplace and a stained-glass window obscures the parking lot outside.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Often, the design’s playfulness obscures the protagonist’s malaise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
Steam rises from the surface so thick it obscures the walls, the ceiling, the dark shape in the corner.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
When prices are bundled or obscured, consumers—in this case students—encounter fewer day-to-day reminders of opportunity costs or the economic realities that accompany virtually every decision in ordinary life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Trudy Crielaard, a chemistry teacher who lives near Utrecht in the Netherlands, recalled trying to watch the eclipse in 1999 when clouds obscured the sun’s corona.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Parts of Spain and Portugal witnessed the phenomenon of a total eclipse, but in Scotland the eclipse shadow meant that up to 95% of the sun was obscured by the Moon.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Devon, Cornwall and the western parts of Pembrokeshire in Wales are set to see the eclipse at its fullest, with 94% to 96% of the Sun obscured by the Moon.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Jacob was careful to keep clear of any hints of his religion and therefore obscured his own story as much as possible.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
But for my money, there is too much tedious, mealymouthed chaff obscuring what should be her larger point.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
The detractors were nervous that Gannon was obscuring clearcut evidence that both G42 and the U.A.E. shouldn’t be trusted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Now, policies are seemingly directed at obscuring conditions in the for-profit facility operated by The GEO Group.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
However, those same cold traps could also collect organic compounds released by visiting spacecraft, potentially obscuring the pristine material scientists hope to study.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026
Sometimes Elizebeth also worked as a cryptographer, which meant that she was the one coming up with ways of obscuring the plaintext.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
