obscure

(ŏb-skyo͝orˈ, əb-)

1. Deficient in light; dark.
2. a. So faintly perceptible as to lack clear delineation; indistinct. See Synonyms at dark.
   b. Indistinctly heard; faint.
   c. Linguistics Having the reduced, neutral sound represented by schwa (ə).
3. a. Far from centers of human population: an obscure village.
   b. Out of sight; hidden: an obscure retreat.
4. Not readily noticed or seen; inconspicuous: an obscure flaw.
5. Of undistinguished or humble station or reputation: an obscure poet; an obscure family.
6. Not clearly understood or expressed; ambiguous or vague: “an impulse to go off and fight certain obscure battles of his own spirit” (Anatole Broyard). See Synonyms at ambiguous.

1. To make dim or indistinct: Smog obscured our view. See Synonyms at block.
2. To conceal in obscurity; hide: “Unlike the origins of most nations, America's origins are not obscured in the mists of time” (National Review).
3. Linguistics To reduce (a vowel) to the neutral sound represented by schwa (ə).

Related Forms:

• ob·scureˈly adverb

• ob·scureˈness noun