Sample sentences for OBSCURE - verbalworkout.com

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.

obscured = partially blocked (made less visible)

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

obscuring = hiding (making less visible)

And no matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth.
Reginald Rose -- Twelve Angry Men

obscures = makes it hard to see; or overshadows

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

obscured = made less visible

We raised our eyes and saw them there, half obscured by the smoke, half hidden by the dark:
David Almond -- Kit's Wilderness

obscured = hidden (made less visible)

Every time he tried to listen to the heart, the child shrieked, obscuring all heart sounds.
Michael Crichton -- The Andromeda Strain

obscuring = making it hard to detect

Something flittered there in front of his mind like a bat's wing, obscuring his idea.
William Golding -- Lord of the Flies

obscuring = making less visible or understandable

The sky had grown light enough to obscure the stars and planets.
Mark Helprin -- A Soldier of the Great War

obscure = hide; or make less visible

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

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.

obscure = not clearly expressed or understood

She sat obscurely in the far corner of the room.

obscurely = inconspicuously (not drawing attention to herself)

There is some obscure meaning in this but I fail to catch it.
Tennessee Williams -- A Streetcar Named Desire

obscure = difficult to understand

As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through the window.
Emily Bronte -- Wuthering Heights

obscurely = in a manner that is not clearly seen

I still had a hard time finding the obscure turnoff to his house in the dark.
Stephenie Meyer -- New Moon

obscure = not clearly seen

Instead of clarifying matters, that only made them more obscure, at least to Newt.
Larry McMurtry -- Lonesome Dove

obscure = difficult to understand

His photographs were available for study and dissection, but his personal life remained obscure.
Nora Roberts -- Summer Pleasures

obscure = mysterious (not known)

Could your note have been any more obscure?
Scott Westerfeld -- Uglies

obscure = not clearly expressed

The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings.
Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein

obscurely = in a manner that is not clearly seen

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

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.

obscure = not known to many people

She was just another obscure student until she created the YouTube video that went viral.

obscure = not important or not noticeably different than others

Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?
Charlotte Bronte -- Jane Eyre

obscure = undistinguished

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

obscure = little known (not known to many people)

...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

obscure = not known to many people

...would lift him from the ranks of obscure officers and offer him the first step to fame!
Leo Tolstoy -- War and Peace

obscure = undistinguished

odd little bits of trivia about obscure inventors and scientists, people he said society had not properly received.
Jill McCorkle -- Ferris Beach

obscure = not known to many people

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

obscure = not known by many people; or undistinguished

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 = seemingly unimportant

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

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.

obscure = dark or dingy

As it drove off she leaned forward, and he thought she waved her hand in the obscurity.
Edith Wharton -- The Age of Innocence

obscurity = darkness

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

obscurely = not known to many people

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

obscurity = darkness

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

obscurity = darkness

The savage peered into the obscurity beneath the thicket.
William Golding -- Lord of the Flies

obscurity = something dark and very difficult to identify or comprehend

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

obscurity = the quality of being dark, dingy, or inconspicuous

It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy.
Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein

obscure = dark

Immediately afterwards the light expired, and the room was plunged in frightful obscurity,
Alexandre Dumas -- The Count of Monte Cristo

obscurity = darkness

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary / more samples — Oxford^® US Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

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