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:
Don’t get lured into a clever, obscure get-rich-quick scheme sold to you by a plausible-sounding con artist.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
To the general reader, the sentence might seem obscure and may have been so intended.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
An obscure dispute in Arizona family court has exploded across podcasts and YouTube.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Ibrahima Konate rolled up their pre-game T-shirts ahead of Real Madrid's match at Elche on Tuesday to obscure the message of support for the people of Ceuta.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Only one worked as a bond trader inside a big Wall Street firm: a formerly obscure asset-backed bond trader at Deutsche Bank named Greg Lippmann.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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
It is true that in some cases the usual sense was not then firmly established, but Browne can hardly be acquitted of wilfully preferring the obscurer.
From A History of Elizabethan Literature by George Saintsbury
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 and humblest person has a fair field for competition.
From Popular Education For the use of Parents and Teachers, and for Young Persons of Both Sexes by Ira Mayhew
The relations with Napoleon III. form one of the most interesting but obscurest episodes in Bismarck’s career.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various
Attributing accountability to artificial intelligence obscures the human decisions that led to these outcomes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The hagiographic tone of “The Man Will Burn” obscures that.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
But more than that, it obscures the reality and erases the history of transgender lives by diminishing the significant time, money, and effort many transgender people spend to align their body with their sex.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Now, time is running out on the bird as the rising tide of concrete, scaffolding and rebar obscures Pinky from pedestrian view along the south side of Colorado Boulevard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
He adjusts his stance until his feet are planted wide, bows his head so that his hair obscures his face, and holds the microphone up in the air in one hand—classic rock star pose.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
He wore a dark hoodie cinched around his face and a rubber mask that obscured everything but his eyes.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
In these stories, the machinery of modern bureaucracy has outrun its original purpose and obscured the humanity of the individual in a pile of papers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 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
"Everything was foggy, you couldn't open the window and it stank," she said, showing a picture on her phone of an orange glow partially obscured by thick smoke clouds that had turned the air black.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
The woman, whose ears also protruded, but were partially obscured by her hair cut in a bob, gave a gay shout of a laugh.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
While most of the players wore the shirts fully, Mbappe, Vinicius and Konate had theirs rolled up to around chest height, obscuring some of the slogan.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 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
He’s pushing trunks against the wall, obscuring Camel.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
