obscurantism

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“
In Religion--obscurantism, resistance to the light, the smug endeavour to make the best of both worlds, offended Arnold as much on the one hand, as insolence, violence, ignorant negation, "lightly running amuck at august things," offended him on the other.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun The principles or practice of obscurants.
  2. noun A policy of withholding information from the public.
  3. noun A style in art and literature characterized by deliberate vagueness or obliqueness.
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Examples (50)

  • There is no need for any form of disguised obscurantism or vitalism. —  ScreenTalk
  • In fact, the BJP's notion of India is hard to disassociate with early nationalist obscurantism promoted by its ideological founders.
  • Never mind its authoritarianism or obscurantism, it is its treatment of man as special - as more than a biological being; as capable of rapture; as having, in the words of Genesis, 'dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and every other living thing that moves on the Earth' - that really gets their goat.
  • As a sop to their bruised egos and perhaps as a check on the untrammeled power of their elite patrons, they retreated into obscurantism - often the last refuge of theological scoundrels. —  orrologion
  • Realism - i.e., painting things as they appeared to the eye - was out and obscurantism was in. —  Stop The ACLU
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French obscurantisme; as obscurant + -ism.
 

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/əbˈskjurəntɪzm/
by American Heritage

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