All 3 Uses of
obscure
in
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
- Either that or Kip has a vision of St. Abillard (any saint will do, but our imaginary author picked a comparatively obscure one), whose face appears on one of the red, yellow, or blue balloons.†
Chpt 1 *
- I could have gone on all day expanding the list without getting into anything too obscure.†
Chpt 6
- ALONG ABOUT NOW you should be asking a question, something like this: you keep saying that the writer is alluding to this obscure work and using that symbol or following some pattern or other that I never heard of, but does he really intend to do that?†
Chpt 10b
Definitions:
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(1)
(obscure as in: it obscured my view) to block from view or make less visible or understandableAlthough this meaning of obscure typically refers to seeing or understanding, it can also refer to situation where something makes something else harder to detect or as when a noise makes another noise difficult to hear. Similarly it can reference something overshadowing something else, as in "Her memory of her dog's death was obscured by her brother's death the next day."
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(2)
(obscure as in: the view or directions are obscure) not clearly seen, understood, or expressedAlthough this meaning of obscure typically refers to seeing or understanding, it can refer to difficulty with any type of detection as when something is hard to hear. It can also more specifically mean vague, or mysterious, or unknown by anyone. Much more rarely, it can mean secretive.
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(3)
(obscure as in: the famous and the obscure) not known to many people; or unimportant or undistinguishedMore rarely, this meaning of obscure can be used for:
- seemingly unimportant -- as in "I want her on the team. She always seems to ask obscure questions that reveal problems in a different light."
- humble (typically only found in classic literature) -- as in "Nobody at the table would have guessed of her obscure family background."
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(4)
(obscure as in: was obscure, but now bright) dark or dingy; or inconspicuous (not very noticeable)This meaning of obscure is more commonly seen in classic literature than in modern writing.