obfuscate

verb

ob·​fus·​cate ˈäb-fə-ˌskāt 

äb-ˈfə-ˌskāt,

əb-

obfuscated; obfuscating

transitive verb

1

a

: to throw into shadow : darken

b

: to make obscure

obfuscate the issue

officials who … continue to obscure and obfuscate what happened

—Mary Carroll

2

: confuse

obfuscate the reader

intransitive verb

: to be evasive, unclear, or confusing

The suspect often obfuscated during the interrogation.

obfuscation

ˌäb-(ˌ)fə-ˈskā-shən 

noun

obfuscatory

äb-ˈfə-skə-ˌtȯr-ē 

əb-

adjective

Did you know?

Try to Understand the Roots of Obfuscate

“Hello darkness, my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again.” So begins the classic 1960s Simon and Garfunkel song “The Sound of Silence,” which was written by Paul Simon with a seemingly oxymoronic title that has obfuscated—that is, confused—ten thousand people, maybe more (probably a lot more) in the decades since. It confuses us too, but we’re not above being oxymoronic ourselves when we say that darkness, our old friend, shines a helpful light on the meaning of the word obfuscate. When obfuscate first came into use in the early 16th century, it was with the meaning “to throw into shadow.” This makes sense, since the word comes from the Latin obfuscāre (“to obscure or darken”) which itself comes in part from fuscus (“dark-colored”). The word was used for both figurative and literal darkening before developing the even more figurative senses of “to make more difficult to understand,” “to be evasive or unclear,” and “to confuse,” which in modern use are now more common.

Synonyms

• becloud
• befog
• blur
• cloud
• confuse
• fog
• muddy

Examples of obfuscate in a Sentence

Politicians keep obfuscating the issues.

Their explanations only serve to obfuscate and confuse.

Recent Examples on the Web

California’s reported property crime rate in 2023 was 0.3% below 2019 levels, but with the 2023 national rate at which individuals report property crimes against them down 14.4% compared to 2019, real property crime in California is likely up but obfuscated by lower reporting rates. —Kenneth Schrupp | The Center Square, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 8 Feb. 2025

But if the goal of censorship is the control and regulation of important information or ideas, then an anti-censorship trend that purposefully obfuscates its own message isn’t clever. —Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 3 Feb. 2025

With a total of 156 other vulnerabilities also listed by Microsoft, the danger is that others of equal importance could get obfuscated by the attention to the zero-day headline-grabbing CVEs. —Davey Winder, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025

Like all of the director’s most memorable settings, the show’s world abided by something closer to dream logic than any earthly science, obfuscating even the most integral developments. —Emma Stefansky, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin obfuscātus, offuscātus, past participle of obfuscāre, offuscāre "to obscure, darken, depreciate," from Latin ob-, perfective prefix + -fuscāre, verbal derivative of fuscus "dark-colored, somber, dark-skinned or -complected" — more at ob-, dusk entry 1

First Known Use

1536, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!