Make less visible or unclear:
— The stars are obscured by the clouds.
— The big elm tree obscures our view of the valley.

synonyms: becloud, befog, cloud, fog, haze over, mist, obnubilate.

Roget 874: be inglorious etc. adj.; incur disgrace etc. n.; have a bad name, earn a bad name; put a halter round one's neck, wear a halter round one's neck; disgrace oneself, expose oneself.    play second fiddle; lose caste; pale one's ineffectual fire; recede into the shade; fall from one's high estate; keep in the background etc. (modesty) 881; be conscious of disgrace etc. (humility) 879; look blue, look foolish, look like a fool; cut a poor figure, cut a sorry figure; laugh on the wrong side of the mouth; make a sorry face, go away with a flea in.    one's ear, slink away.    cause shame etc. n.; shame, disgrace, put to shame, dishonor; throw dishonor upon, cast dishonor upon, fling dishonor upon, reflect dishonor upon etc. n.; be a reproach etc. n.. to; derogate from.    tarnish, stain, blot sully, taint; discredit; degrade, debase, defile; beggar; expel etc. (punish) 972.    impute shame to, brand, post, stigmatize, vilify, defame, slur, cast a slur upon, hold up to shame, send to Coventry; tread under foot, trample under foot; show up, drag through the mire, heap dirt upon; reprehend etc. 932.    bring low, put down, snub; take down a peg, take down a peg lower, take down a peg or two.    obscure.    eclipse, outshine, take the shine out of; throw into the shade, cast into the shade; overshadow; leave in the background, put in the background; push into a corner, put one's nose out of joint; put out, put out of countenance.    upset, throw off one's center; discompose, disconcert; put to the blush etc. (humble) 879.    ... show more

Roget 431: be black etc. adj.; render black etc. adj.. blacken, infuscate^†, denigrate; blot, blotch; smutch^†; smirch; darken etc. 421.    black, sable, swarthy, somber, dark, inky, ebony, ebon, atramentous^†, jetty; coal-black, jet-black; fuliginous^†, pitchy, sooty, swart, dusky, dingy, murky, Ethiopic; low-toned, low in tone; of the deepest dye.    black as jet etc. n., black as my hat, black as a shoe, black as a tinker's pot, black as November, black as thunder, black as midnight; nocturnal etc. (dark) 421; nigrescent^†; gray etc. 432; obscure etc. 421.    ... show more

Dutch: bewolken, misten, nevelen

Make unclear, indistinct, or blurred.

synonyms: blur, confuse, obnubilate.

Make obscure or unclear:
— The distinction was obscured.

synonyms: bedim, overcloud.

Roget 422: be dim, grow dim etc. adj.; flicker, twinkle, glimmer; loom, lower; fade; pale, pale its ineffectual fire [Hamlet]. render dim etc. adj.; dim, bedim^†, obscure; darken, tone down.    ... show more

Roget 421: be dark etc. adj.. darken, obscure, shade; dim; tone down, lower; overcast, overshadow; eclipse; obfuscate, offuscate^†; obumbrate^†, adumbrate; cast into the shade becloud, bedim^†, bedarken^†; cast a shade, throw a shade, spread a shade, cast a shadow, cast a gloom, throw a shadow, spread a shadow, cast gloom, throw gloom, spread gloom.    extinguish; put out, blow out, snuff out; doubt.    turn out the lights, douse the lights, dim the lights, turn off the lights, switch off the lights.    ... show more

Reduce a vowel to a neutral one, such as a schwa.

Make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing.

synonyms: blot out, hide, obliterate, veil.

Not clearly expressed or understood:
— An obscure turn of phrase.
— An impulse to go off and fight certain obscure battles of his own spirit.

synonym: vague.

Roget 876: ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly; below par; no great shakes etc. (unimportant) 643; homely, homespun; vulgar, low-minded; snobbish.    plebeian, proletarian; of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction; lowborn, baseborn, earthborn^†; mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks; unknown to fame, obscure, untitled.    rustic, uncivilized; loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish; rude, unlicked^†.    barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque^†; cockney, born within sound of Bow bells.    underling, menial, subaltern.    ... show more

Roget 571: obscure etc. n.; crabbed, involved, confused.   

Roget 874: disgraced etc. v.; blown upon; shorn of its beams" [Milton], shorn of one's glory; overcome, downtrodden; loaded with shame etc. n.; in bad repute etc. n.; out of repute, out of favor, out of fashion, out of countenance; at a discount; under a cloud, under an eclipse; unable to show one's face; in the shade, in the background; out at elbows, down at the elbows, down in the world.    inglorious; nameless, renownless^†; obscure; unknown to fame; unnoticed, unnoted^†, unhonored, unglorified^†.    shameful; disgraceful, discreditable, disreputable; despicable; questionable; unbecoming, unworthy; derogatory; degrading, humiliating, infra dignitatem [Lat.], dedecorous^†; scandalous, infamous, too bad, unmentionable; ribald, opprobrious; errant, shocking, outrageous, notorious.    ignominious, scrubby, dirty, abject, vile, beggarly, pitiful, low, mean, shabby base etc. (dishonorable) 940.    ... show more

Marked by difficulty of style or expression:
— Those who do not appreciate Kafka's work say his style is obscure.

synonym: dark.

Roget 519: unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable; incognizable^†, inexplicable, inscrutable; inapprehensible^†, incomprehensible; insolvable^†, insoluble; impenetrable.    illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical; enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret) 533; indecipherable.    obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery; opaque, dense; undiscernible etc. (invisible) 447^†; misty etc. (opaque) 426; hidden etc. 528; latent etc. 526.    indefinite, garbled etc. (indistinct) 447; perplexed etc. (confused) 59; undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous; mysterious; mystic, mystical; acroamatic^†, acroamatical^†; metempirical; transcendental; occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed.    inconceivable, inconceptible^†; searchless^†; above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension; beyond one's depth; unconceived.    inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable.    unpredictable, unforeseeable.    ... show more

Roget 447: invisible, imperceptible; undiscernible^†, indiscernible; unapparent, non-apparent; out of sight, not in sight; a perte de vue [Fr.]; behind the scenes, behind the curtain; viewless, sightless; inconspicuous, unconspicuous^†; unseen etc. (see) etc. 441; covert etc. (latent) 526; eclipsed, under an eclipse.    dim etc. (faint) 422; mysterious, dark, obscure, confused; indistinct, indistinguishable; shadowy, indefinite, undefined; ill-defined, ill-marked; blurred, fuzzy, out of focus; misty etc. (opaque) 426; delitescent^†.    hidden, obscured, covered, veiled (concealed) 528.    ... show more

Roget 421: dark, darksome^†, darkling; obscure, tenebrious^†, sombrous^†, pitch dark, pitchy, pitch black; caliginous^†; black etc. (in color) 431.    sunless, lightless etc. (sun) (light), etc. 423; somber, dusky; unilluminated etc. (illuminate) etc. 420^†; nocturnal; dingy, lurid, gloomy; murky, murksome^†; shady, umbrageous; overcast etc. (dim) 422; cloudy etc. (opaque) 426; darkened; etc. v.. dark as pitch, dark as a pit, dark as Erebus [Lat.].    benighted; noctivagant^†, noctivagous^†.    ... show more

Difficult to find:
— An obscure retreat.

synonym: hidden.

Not famous or acclaimed:
— An obscure family.

synonyms: unknown, unsung.

Not drawing attention:
— An obscure flaw.

synonym: unnoticeable.

Polish: niezauważalny, lekki, nieznaczny

Remote and separate physically or socially:
— An obscure village.

synonyms: apart, isolated.