4 meanings
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1 —as in:
it obscured my view
Definition
to block from view or make less visible or understandable- The stars are obscured by the clouds.
obscured = hidden or made less visible
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Our view was obscured by the smoke.
- There are two kinds of light—the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.James Thurber
- Clouds were obscuring the moon completely.J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- And no matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth.Reginald Rose -- Twelve Angry Men
- I had been calm during the day, but so soon as night obscured the shapes of objects, a thousand fears arose in my mind.Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein
- We raised our eyes and saw them there, half obscured by the smoke, half hidden by the dark:David Almond -- Kit's Wilderness
- Every time he tried to listen to the heart, the child shrieked, obscuring all heart sounds.Michael Crichton -- The Andromeda Strain
- Something flittered there in front of his mind like a bat's wing, obscuring his idea.William Golding -- Lord of the Flies
- The sky had grown light enough to obscure the stars and planets.Mark Helprin -- A Soldier of the Great War
obscured = partially blocked (made less visible)
obscuring = hiding (making less visible)
obscures = makes it hard to see; or overshadows
obscured = made less visible
obscured = hidden (made less visible)
obscuring = making it hard to detect
obscuring = making less visible or understandable
obscure = hide; or make less visible
2 —as in:
the view or directions are obscure
Definition
not clearly seen, understood, or expressed- For some obscure reason that goes back many years, they don't like each other.
obscure = not clearly understood
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- She left instructions for us, but they are so obscure we can't agree on what they are.
- She sat obscurely in the far corner of the room.
- There is some obscure meaning in this but I fail to catch it.Tennessee Williams -- A Streetcar Named Desire
- As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through the window.Emily Bronte -- Wuthering Heights
- I still had a hard time finding the obscure turnoff to his house in the dark.Stephenie Meyer -- New Moon
- Instead of clarifying matters, that only made them more obscure, at least to Newt.Larry McMurtry -- Lonesome Dove
- His photographs were available for study and dissection, but his personal life remained obscure.Nora Roberts -- Summer Pleasures
- Could your note have been any more obscure?Scott Westerfeld -- Uglies
- When I decided to go to Alaska that April, like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic.Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild
obscure = not clearly expressed or understood
obscurely = inconspicuously (not drawing attention to herself)
obscure = difficult to understand
obscurely = in a manner that is not clearly seen
obscure = not clearly seen
obscure = difficult to understand
obscure = mysterious (not known)
obscure = not clearly expressed
obscure = little understood
3 —as in:
knows the famous and the obscure
Definition
not known to many people; or unimportant or undistinguished- The obscure battle is hardly mentioned in history books.
obscure = not known to many people
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- An Internet search proved she had plagiarized from an obscure poem written in 1920.
- She was just another obscure student until she created the YouTube video that went viral.
- Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?Charlotte Bronte -- Jane Eyre
- His voice quivering, he would read her a poem he had written, pretending it was the work of an obscure poet:Robert Cormier -- I Am the Cheese
- ...some of whom, like Socrates and Aristotle and Newton and Einstein, were known to almost everyone, but most of whom were far more obscure.Robert M. Pirsig -- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
- ...would lift him from the ranks of obscure officers and offer him the first step to fame!Leo Tolstoy -- War and Peace
- odd little bits of trivia about obscure inventors and scientists, people he said society had not properly received.Jill McCorkle -- Ferris Beach
- The war had definitely established the importance of Atlanta in the affairs of the South and the hitherto obscure town was now known far and wide.Margaret Mitchell -- Gone with the Wind
- He had always paid attention to details, especially when he'd begun his practice. Little things, obscure things, and it had become a habit now.Nicholas Sparks -- The Notebook
obscure = not known to many people
obscure = not important or not noticeably different than others
obscure = undistinguished
obscure = little known (not known to many people)
obscure = not known to many people
obscure = undistinguished
obscure = not known to many people
obscure = not known by many people; or undistinguished
obscure = seemingly unimportant
4 —as in:
was obscure, but now bright
Definition
dark or dingy; or inconspicuous (not very noticeable)- The once shiny silver was now tarnished and obscure.
obscure = dark, dingy, or inconspicuous
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- The jungle became obscure as the sun set.
- As it drove off she leaned forward, and he thought she waved her hand in the obscurity.Edith Wharton -- The Age of Innocence
- The Daily Blare was a paper that made the most of any opportunity for sensationalism. Robberies and murders did not lurk obscurely in its back pages. Instead they hit you in the eye in large type on the front page.Agatha Christie -- Early Cases Of Hercule Poirot
- In another moment she would step forth into the night, and his eyes, accustomed to the obscurity, would discern her as clearly as though she stood in daylight.Edith Wharton -- Ethan Frome
- In another moment the pale stars alone were visible. All else was rayless obscurity. The sky was absolutely black.H.G. Wells -- The Time Machine
- The savage peered into the obscurity beneath the thicket.William Golding -- Lord of the Flies
- There was a great fire, and that was all the light in the huge apartment, whose floor had grown a uniform grey; and the once brilliant pewter-dishes, which used to attract my gaze when I was a girl, partook of a similar obscurity, created by tarnish and dust.Emily Bronte -- Wuthering Heights
- Immediately afterwards the light expired, and the room was plunged in frightful obscurity,Alexandre Dumas -- The Count of Monte Cristo
- In the obscurity I could see he made a gesture of despair.H.G. Wells -- The War of the Worlds
obscure = dark or dingy
obscurity = darkness
obscurely = not known to many people
obscurity = darkness
obscurity = darkness
obscurity = something dark and very difficult to identify or comprehend
obscurity = the quality of being dark, dingy, or inconspicuous
obscurity = darkness
obscurity = darkness