Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Deficient in light; dark.
  • adjective So faintly perceptible as to lack clear delineation; indistinct.
  • adjective Indistinctly heard; faint.
  • adjective Linguistics Having the reduced, neutral sound represented by schwa (ə).
  • adjective Far from centers of human population.
  • adjective Out of sight; hidden.
  • adjective Not readily noticed or seen; inconspicuous.
  • adjective Of undistinguished or humble station or reputation.
  • adjective Not clearly understood or expressed; ambiguous or vague: synonym: ambiguous.
  • transitive verb To make dim, indistinct, or impossible to see: synonym: block.
  • transitive verb To make difficult to discern mentally or understand.
  • transitive verb To diminish the stature of; overshadow or detract from.
  • transitive verb Linguistics To reduce (a vowel) to the neutral sound represented by schwa (ə).
  • noun Something obscure or unknown.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To cover and shut off from view; conceal; hide.
  • To darken or make dark; dim.
  • To deprive of luster or glory; outshine; eclipse; depreciate; disparage; belittle.
  • To render doubtful or unintelligible; render indistinct or difficult of comprehension or explanation; disguise.
  • To hide; conceal one's self.
  • Dark; deprived of light; hence, murky; gloomy; dismal.
  • Living in darkness; pertaining to darkness or night.
  • Not capable of being clearly seen, on account of deficient illumination.
  • Hence In logic, not clear, as an idea; not sharply distinguished from others.
  • Not perspicuous, as a writing or speech; not readily understood, on account of faultiness of expression.
  • Hidden; retired; remote from observation: as, an obscure village.
  • Unknown to fame; unnoticed; hence, humble; lowly: as, an obscure curate.
  • In entomology: Not distinct: as, obscure punctures.
  • Not clear; dull or semi-opaque: as, obscure green or red.
  • Synonyms Dark, dim, darksome, dusky, rayless, murky.
  • 4 and Obscure, Doubtful, Dubious, Ambiguous, Equivocal; difficult, intricate, vague, mysterious, enigmatical. In regard to the meaning of something said or written, obscure is general, being founded upon the figure of light which is insufficient to enable one to see with any clearness; this figure is still felt in all the uses of the word. Doubtful is literal, meaning full of doubt, quite impossible of decision or determination, on account of insufficient knowledge. Dubious may be the same as doubtful, but tends to the special meaning of that doubtfulness which involves anxiety or suspicion: as, dubious battle; dubious prospects; a dubious character. Ambiguous applies to the use of words, intentionally or otherwise, in a way that makes certainty of interpretation impossible; but it may be used in other connections: as, an ambiguous smile. Equivocal applies to that which is ambiguous by deliberate intention. See darkness.
  • Unhonored, inglorious.
  • noun Obscurity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To render obscure; to darken; to make dim; to keep in the dark; to hide; to make less visible, intelligible, legible, glorious, beautiful, or illustrious.
  • noun obsolete Obscurity.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To conceal one's self; to hide; to keep dark.
  • adjective Covered over, shaded, or darkened; destitute of light; imperfectly illuminated; dusky; dim.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to darkness or night; inconspicuous to the sight; indistinctly seen; hidden; retired; remote from observation; unnoticed.
  • adjective Not noticeable; humble; mean.
  • adjective Not easily understood; not clear or legible; abstruse or incomprehensible.
  • adjective Not clear, full, or distinct; clouded; imperfect.
  • adjective (Opt.) those rays which are not luminous or visible, and which in the spectrum are beyond the limits of the visible portion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Dark, faint or indistinct.
  • adjective Hidden, out of sight or inconspicuous.
  • adjective Difficult to understand.
  • verb transitive To darken, make faint etc.
  • verb transitive To hide, put out of sight etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make obscure or unclear
  • adjective remote and separate physically or socially

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French obscur, from Latin obscūrus; see (s)keu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French obscur, from Latin obscūrus ("dark, dusky, indistinct"), possibly, from ob ("over") + -scurus ("covered"), from root scu ("cover"), seen also in scutum ("a shield"); see scutum, sky.

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Examples

  • Now, in that which you call the obscure indefinite sense of the word MATTER, it is plain, by your own confession, there was included no idea at all, no sense except an unknown sense; which is the same thing as none.

    Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous 2005

  • Now, in that which you call the obscure indefinite sense of the word Matter, it is plain, by your own confession, there was included no idea at all, no sense except an unknown sense; which is the same thing as none.

    The Second Dialogue 1909

  • In fact, it should come to pass that the word "obscure" should be removed from the pop music lexicon-it's always been an impossible task to keep up with every musician creating new, vital music, but today that ideal seems like a hopeless throwback to a time when much of society i.e.

    Forbes.com: News Leor Galil 2012

  • Now, in that which you call the obscure indefinite sense of the word MATTER, it is plain, by your own confession, there was included no idea at all, no sense except an unknown sense; which is the same thing as none.

    Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous George Berkeley 1719

  • Telemachus plays rep hockey, which means we spend a lot of time hunting down arenas in obscure communities in our area of Ontario.

    Archive 2009-02-01 Ulysses 2009

  • Stealing a radiator cap and planting radiating material in a victim: how obscure is that?

    Seeing my breath — at least I’m still breathing : Bev Vincent 2010

  • For 48 hours the people of Twitter guided me around the city, from backstreet art galleries in obscure eastern suburbs to glorious belle époque eating halls in Montmartre.

    Are guidebooks facing extinction? Benji Lanyado 2010

  • Determination to dig out the obscure is evident in listing stories from California Highway Patrolmen, Our Dumb Animals, and Hungarian Studies in English.

    HENSLEY WOODBRIDGE1923 – 2001 2010

  • Whereas before the fanfic might be published in obscure fanzines with a circulation of a hundred, now tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, can read these ... well, let's just call them "unauthorized derivative works."

    Someone Is Angry On the Internet grrm 2010

  • Telemachus plays rep hockey, which means we spend a lot of time hunting down arenas in obscure communities in our area of Ontario.

    The Happy Luddite Ulysses 2009

Comments

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  • Yea, on this unplethorably traversed and grievously neglected (comment-wise) Wordie page I, again, reprise my nomination of r. and u. for the richly deserved (tho' so far nonexistent) award for enzaniousness nonpareil...whether they like it or not!

    September 15, 2007

  • Maybe the silence will be deafening, but I cain't wait for the humble gratitude that will smack me in the face like a banana cream pie! *ducking*. Whoops! Hmmmmm. The weekend approacheth, nay, done arriveth, so I will be patient, with almost-baited breath for their fondly anticipated, jocular, if acerbic acceptance speeches (while I keep my powder dry!). :^P

    September 15, 2007

  • O, where'd you get the dictionary for that announcement paragraph? How splendid! I hereby present you with humble gratitude. *throwing coconut cream pie instead*

    Gosh, I feel so...obscure. :-D

    September 16, 2007

  • I am doubly honored, indubitably cherished, inexorably exonerated and altogether made happy through and through by your fawning words of praise, dear friend. Unfortunately my trophy rack is quite full and has been for some time, so until I have in my budget a sum for new furniture, I shall have to deny your most generous gift.

    September 17, 2007

  • No problem, U. You do remember, it's non-existent? So yer welcome!

    September 19, 2007

  • obscure=hidden

    September 4, 2013

  • verb: make unclear

    On the Smith's drive through the Grand Canyon, Mr. Smith's big head obscured much of Mrs. Robinson's view, so that she only saw momentary patches of red rock.

    adjective: known by only a few

    Many of the biggest movie stars were once obscure actors who got only bit roles in long forgotten films.

    October 15, 2016