Definition of: obscure

(əb·skyr′) adjective ·scur·er, ·scur·est
1. Dim; dark; dusky; gloomy.
2. Not clear to the mind; vague; abstruse.
3. Faintly marked; hard to discern; undefined.
4. Remote or apart; hidden from view or notice; hence, little known; lowly: obscure birth.
—v.t. ·scured, ·scur·ing
1. To darken or cloud; dim.
2. To hide from view; conceal.
3. To make unintelligible; confuse: to obscure an issue.
4. To make indefinite in sound, as a vowel.
—noun Indistinctness of outline or color. [<OF obscur, oscur <L obscurus, lit., covered over]
—ob·scure′ly adverb
—ob·scure′ness noun Synonyms (adj.): abstruse, ambiguous, complicated, dark, difficult, dim, indistinct, involved, profound, unintelligible. That is obscure which the eye or mind cannot clearly see or understand. If the matter is abstruse, as if removed from the usual way of thinking, it is difficult to comprehend. The matter may be complicated by the intertwining of its many parts, or it may be so deep as to be profound. The expression of the thought may be ambiguous, as if looking in two ways, or involved and confused in form, or it may be unintelligible to the mind. Sometimes it is dark, dim, and indistinct by reason of lack of light or want of transparency.