Obscure

How to spell obscure

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce obscure

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does obscure mean?

1. adjectiveNot well known, or difficult to understand or perceive clearly.
2. verbTo make something unclear, or to hide it from view.

Obscure in a sentence

• adjective

  The report cited an obscure regulation that almost no one had read.

• verb

  Thick fog began to obscure the road ahead of the car.

• adjective

  The reasons for the delay remained obscure even after the meeting.

• verb

  Vague wording can obscure the real terms of a contract.

Where does obscure come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word arrived in English from the Latin obscurus, an adjective meaning 'dark', 'shadowy', or 'covered over'. It was built from the prefix ob-, here suggesting 'over' or 'against', joined to a root related to covering or concealing, so the literal sense was something hidden away in shadow. From that physical darkness the meaning broadened to anything dim, hard to see, or hard to understand, and then to people and ideas that are little known. English took it through Old French oscur or obscur in the late 1300s, and the spelling was later straightened back toward the Latin form with its visible b. That same Latin family also gives us the rarer word 'obscurity', and the silent feel of the middle consonants is exactly what makes the spelling deceptive: the b is pronounced but the cluster 'scure' tempts writers to drop letters.

How the word is built

• ob- (over, against)
• scur- (from scurus, covered/dark)
• -e