obscureadj/əbˈskjʊə(ɹ)/

• 1

  Dark, faint or indistinct.

  • I found myself in an obscure wood.
  • His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
• 2

  Hidden, out of sight or inconspicuous.

  • The obscure bird / Clamoured the livelong night.
  • the obscure corners of the earth
• 3

  Difficult to understand; abstruse.

  • an obscure passage or inscription; The speaker made obscure references to little-known literary works.
  • The lock was of a kind that Watt could not pick. Watt could pick simple locks, but he could not pick obscure locks.
• 4

  Not well-known.

  • Of all the medical monsters Peter Hotez could have set out to slay, the Yale University researcher could not have chosen a more wily and obscure villain than the hookworm.
  • i need to be REALLY careful to not use any obscure words. otherwise my tweets might end up on a wiktionary page
• 5

  Unknown or uncertain; unclear.

  • The etymological roots of the word "blizzard" are obscure and open to debate.

obscureverb/əbˈskjʊə(ɹ)/

• 1

  To render obscure; to darken; to make dim; to keep in the dark; to hide; to make less visible, intelligible, legible, glorious, beautiful, or illustrious.

  • They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscured lights.
  • c. 1688', William Wake, Preparation for Death There is scarce any duty which has been so obscured in the writings of learned men as this.
• 2

  To hide, put out of sight etc.

  • It has been little altered over the years save for the addition of a platform awning which rather obscures the arcaded entrance to the booking hall.
  • But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw, peeping around the massive silver epergne that almost obscured him from her view, that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.
• 3

  obsoleteTo conceal oneself; to hide.

  • How! There's bad news. / I must obscure, and hear it.