What does obscure mean?
Word: Obscure
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Obscure means not well known, or hard to understand. As a verb, it means to block something so that it cannot be seen clearly.
Synonyms: unknown, unclear
Antonyms: famous, clear
Word origin: From Latin obscurus, through Old French.
How do you spell obscure?
Syllables: ob - scure
Tricky part: After ob comes sc, which together make a k sound: students who hear 'ob-skyoor' write obskure or obsure.
Watch out for: obskure, obsure, obscour
Memory tip: Something obscure is hidden, as if behind a screen: screen and the scure in obscure both start with sc.
Obscure in a sentence
Example 1: My grandfather collects stamps from obscure islands that most people cannot find on a map.
Example 2: The poem's meaning seemed obscure until our teacher explained it line by line.
Example 3: A tall new building now obscures the view of the sea from our balcony.
Fun Fact
In 1913 Srinivasa Ramanujan was an obscure clerk at the Madras Port Trust when his letter full of new formulas reached the Cambridge mathematician G. H. Hardy; within a few years he was world famous.
Practise the CREST Way
Back to the Roots
Choose the correct option:
Obscure comes from the Latin word obscurus. What did obscurus mean?
a) broken
b) ancient
c) distant
d) dark
Show answer
d) dark. Obscurus meant dark or shadowy, and something obscure is still hidden as if in shadow.
Spellacadabra
Choose the misspelt word:
a) obscurre
b) manicure
c) mature
d) endure
Show answer
a) obscurre. Obscure has a single r, like endure, manicure and mature.
Sound Check
Which word does not rhyme with obscure?
a) procure
b) leisure
c) demure
d) secure
Show answer
b) leisure. Leisure ends in a soft 'zhuh' sound; secure, procure and demure end in the same 'yoor' sound as obscure.
Spell Spies
Choose the misspelt word/s in the given sentence:
The quiz master asked such an obscure question about old Tamil poets that nobody in the hall knew the anser, not even the teachers.
a) quiz and anser
b) obscure and anser
c) only poets
d) only anser
Show answer
d) only anser. Answer keeps a silent w after the s; the rest of the sentence is spelt correctly.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Thick fog obscured the hills. What did the fog do?
a) moved them closer
b) made them look greener
c) lit them up brightly
d) hid them from view
Show answer
d) hid them from view
2. An obscure village is one that ___.
a) is always very crowded
b) stands on a hilltop
c) has a famous museum
d) few people have heard of
Show answer
d) few people have heard of
