ob·scure
(ŏb-skyŏŏŕ, əb-)
[Middle English, from Old French obscur, from Latin obscūrus.]
adjective: -scur·er, -scur·est.
- Deficient in light; dark.
- So faintly perceptible as to lack clear delineation; indistinct. See synonyms at dark
- Indistinctly heard; faint.
- Linguistics Having the reduced, neutral sound represented by schwa (ə).
- Far from centers of human population: an obscure village.
- Out of sight; hidden: an obscure retreat.
- Not readily noticed or seen; inconspicuous: an obscure flaw.
- Of undistinguished or humble station or reputation: an obscure poet; an obscure family.
- Not clearly understood or expressed; ambiguous or vague: “an impulse to go off and fight certain obscure battles of his own spirit” (Anatole Broyard) See synonyms at ambiguous
transitive verb: -scured, -scur·ing, -scures.
- To make dim or indistinct: Smog obscured our view. See synonyms at block
- To conceal in obscurity; hide: “Unlike the origins of most nations, America's origins are not obscured in the mists of time” (National Review)
- Linguistics To reduce (a vowel) to the neutral sound represented by schwa (ə).
noun
- Something obscure or unknown.
derivatives
- ob·scurély
- adverb
- ob·scuréness
- noun
