Thinking and knowing
Synonyms for obscure
Synonyms for obscure: dark, unnoticeable, hidden, obfuscate and vague. Every one of them is a hand audited pair from the Synonym Stack word bank, shown below in the sense it fits, in a real sentence, and beside the words that only look close.
The 5 synonyms for obscure
Interchangeable with obscure, one per sense
Audited under obscure's own entry, so the meaning quoted is the one obscure carries in that sense.
- darkadjective, in the sense "marked by difficulty of style or expression"
- unnoticeableadjective, in the sense "not drawing attention"
Recorded from the other side of the pair
These entries were written under the other word and name obscure as the true synonym, so the sense quoted is theirs.
two of these come from obscure's own entries in the bank, and three were audited from the other word's side of the pair. Both directions were read by a human, and only the sense quoted differs.
marked by difficulty of style or expression
Those who do not appreciate Kafka's work say his style is obscure.
The true synonym
dark
Same sentence, swapped: Those who do not appreciate Kafka's work say his style is dark.
Close but different
These three are the other tiles the game puts on screen for this sense, and the note above says why the closest of them fails. None is a synonym for obscure in the sentence quoted.
- isolated
- unsung
- scrambled
not drawing attention
An obscure flaw.
The true synonym
unnoticeable
Same sentence, swapped: An unnoticeable flaw.
Close but different
These three are the other tiles for this sense. Each is a real word, and none of them can stand where obscure stands in the sentence above.
- isolated
- gloomy
- scrambled
Where obscure turns up in the game
obscure is the word under test in two puzzles, spread across two difficulty tiers. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in four other puzzles, where the answer is a different word entirely.
The puzzles where obscure is the trap
- isolatedadjective, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is stray, in the sense "not close together in time", and obscure is on the board beside it.
- unknownadjective, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is unidentified, in the sense "being or having an unknown or unnamed source", so obscure is there to be ruled out.
- codifyverb, Tier 3, Ridgeline. The answer there is systematize, in the sense "to arrange rules or practices into a formal, organized system", so obscure is there to be ruled out.
- doubtfuladjective, Tier 3, Ridgeline. The answer there is dubious, in the sense "fraught with uncertainty or doubt", and obscure is one of the three tiles that lose.
Play obscure
The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so obscure reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.
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Closest first: other thinking and knowing words at Ridgeline, then the same tier across the rest of the library.
Why the near miss missed, in the game as well as here
Synonym Stack plays from this exact bank. obscure carries 1 written reason line, and the game shows them the moment a round ends, whichever tile you tapped.