obscure

CEFRC1

/əbˈskjʊə(ɹ)/

adjective · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Not well known, understood, or easy to see.

  2. 02

    verb

    To make something difficult to see or understand.

Examples

  • May I ask a few more questions about that point? It's a little obscure.

  • The cause of the accident is still obscure.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Difficult to understand; abstruse.

  2. Hidden, out of sight or inconspicuous.

  3. Dark, faint or indistinct.

More examples

In context

  • The meaning of this sentence is obscure.

  • an obscure passage or inscription; The speaker made obscure references to little-known literary works.

  • I found myself in an obscure wood.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank ancient language was understood only by a few specialized scholars.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English obscure, from Old French obscur, from Latin obscūrus (“dark, dusky, indistinct”), from ob- + *scūrus, from Proto-Italic *skoiros, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃-. Doublet of oscuro.