obscure

Word family

• obscurity
  nounC1
• obscurely
  adverbC2
• obscured
  adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/2

All five words describe writing or speech that resists easy reading, but they fault it for different reasons. 'Vague' is the mildest and most everyday; it points at missing detail, as in a vague answer to a clear question. 'Obscure' goes further: the words may be precise, yet the meaning is buried under tangled syntax or unfamiliar references that the reader cannot dig out. 'Cryptic' adds intent — the writer seems to be hiding a clever message, like a riddle or a teasing text. 'Abstruse' is reserved for difficulty rooted in the topic itself, often academic philosophy or higher mathematics. 'Ambiguous' is different again: the wording is clear, but two equally good readings compete. So a tax form is obscure, a lover's text is cryptic, a graduate thesis can be abstruse, and a contract clause that points two ways is ambiguous.

Common collocations

Etymology

English borrowed 'obscure' in the late 1300s through Old French from the Latin adjective 'obscurus', a compound built on 'ob-' ('over, in front of') and a root linked to ideas of covering or shading. The Latin word first described literal darkness — a covered sky, a shaded room — and only later widened to abstract dimness of meaning or fame. Both lines of meaning travelled into English together, which is why one word now spans clouded views, clouded prose, and clouded reputations.