obscurity

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Shade

Nouns

1. obscurity, dimness, darkness, obscuration, obfuscation, opacity; whiteout; shade, cloud, gloom, duskiness, etc. See concealment, invisibility, cloudiness.

2. unclearness, indefiniteness, vagueness; unintelligibility; ambiguity; intricacy, involution, convolution; abstruseness, mystery; terra incognita. Informal, twilight zone, zoo event.

3. lowliness, inconspicuousness; seclusion, privacy.

Verbs — obscure, shade, cloud, darken, conceal, hide; dim, bedim, becloud, befog, confuse, bewilder, baffle, befuddle, fluster, mystify, perplex, obfuscate. Slang, befuzz.

Adjectives

1. obscure, dim, unlighted, unilluminated, rayless, dusky, dark, darksome, muddy, muzzy; shadowy, murky, hazy, misty, seen through a mist, foggy, smoky, shaded, clouded, nebulous; gloomy, somber, opaque, indistinct, undiscernible, bleary; invisible.

2. unclear, indefinite, vague, undecided; unintelligible, ambiguous, enigmatical, equivocal, indefinable, doubtful, difficult; involved, confused, complex, intricate, abstruse, transcendental, indeterminate, inexact, inaccurate; mystic[al], mysterious, cabalistic, cryptic, recondite, hidden, concealed, blind.

3. nameless, unknown, unnoticed, unnoted, inconspicuous; undistinguished, uncelebrated, unhonored, renownless, inglorious; secluded, retired, remote, private.

Phrases — neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring.

Quotations — Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece (Vladimir Nabokov), Suffering is permanent, obscure, and dark, and shares the nature of infinity (William Wordsworth), I strive to be brief, and I become obscure (Horace).

Antonyms, see light, certainty, transparency.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. vagueness, dimness, fuzziness; see uncertainty 1 , 2 , 3 .

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. Absence or deficiency of light: dark, darkness, dimness, duskiness, murkiness, obscureness. See LIGHT. 2. The quality or state of being obscure: anonymity, namelessness. See KNOWLEDGE. 3. The quality or state of being ambiguous: ambiguity, ambiguousness, cloudiness, equivocalness, indefiniteness, nebulousness, obscureness, uncertainty, unclearness, vagueness. See CLEAR.