Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Deficiency or absence of light; darkness.
- noun The quality or condition of being unknown.
- noun One that is unknown.
- noun The quality or condition of being imperfectly known or difficult to understand.
- noun An instance of being imperfectly known or difficult to understand.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The quality or state of being obscure; darkness; dimness; uncertainty of meaning; unintelligibleness; an obscure place, state, or condition; especially, the condition of being unknown.
- noun Synonyms Dimness, Gloom, etc. (see
darkness ), shade, obscuration; retirement, seclusion.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The quality or state of being obscure.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun literary
Darkness ; theabsence oflight . - noun The state of being
unknown ; a thing that is unknown - noun The quality of being
difficult tounderstand ; a thing that is difficult to understand
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an obscure and unimportant standing; not well known
- noun the quality of being unclear or abstruse and hard to understand
- noun the state of being indistinct or indefinite for lack of adequate illumination
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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While any list that highlights lesser known people who toil in obscurity is a good thing i would suggest the following:
Who Makes A Difference: the C-Ville 20 at cvillenews.com 2002
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Now I appreciate that it may be a political fact of life in Canada that the surest way to send an up-and-coming cabinet minister to obscurity is to suggest that he has a great and glorious future before him, particularly when his Prime Minister is relatively young and healthy.
Plain Talk 1971
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Closer to our own time, Joseph Heller and William Gaddis spent years in obscurity doing menial writing-related work in order to write novels that at first few people cared about.
Art and Culture 2010
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Hardly content to toil in obscurity, Schumer honed his ability to insert himself front and center into the biggest issues of the day.
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I definitely think obscurity is worse for authors.
Piracy vs Obscurity: Which Is Worse For Authors? by Joanna Penn | The Creative Penn 2009
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It is an unlikely position for a company that, had it complied with collusive Japanese business traditions and paid heed to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, would be stuck in obscurity making piston rings.
Sunday Reading 2009
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In each of those incredibly successful series there were stars that rose to the next level and others who have wallowed in obscurity (self-imposed or otherwise).
Twilight Lexicon » Twilight Fans Only Want to See Stars in Twilight Films 2010
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May you live in obscurity and forever be associated with amongst your many crimes Abu Ghraib as Nixon is to Wartergate. —
Bush to Deliver Farewell Address on Thursday - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2009
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The spectacular mistiming of his own 2001 memoir, Fugitive Days, doomed the book to short-term infamy and long-term obscurity.
Deconstructing Obama Jack Cashill 2011
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The spectacular mistiming of his own 2001 memoir, Fugitive Days, doomed the book to short-term infamy and long-term obscurity.
Deconstructing Obama Jack Cashill 2011
sonofgroucho commented on the word obscurity
As in "plucked from obscurity".
December 30, 2006
pterodactyl commented on the word obscurity
I spotted a very Wordie-like treatment of the word obscurity in an episode of the TV show QI -- you can watch it here.
April 25, 2008