Word of the Day

Friday September 11, 2009

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obfuscate [OB-fuh-skayt]

transitive verb

1. To make obscure or unclear.
2. To confuse or bewilder; to darken.

• Newspapers - old-fashioned, ink-on-dead-tree newspapers - offer the scrutiny that politicians, bankers and diplomats try to obfuscate. They shine light where those in power seek the same darkness that cloaks Tehran.
  Alan Cowell, "Is free news really worth the price? Letter From Europe", International Herald Tribune, Jun 27, 2009
• One unusual feature of the congressional debate on health care helps explain why the August meetings with voters may be generating more heat than light: Broadly speaking, there are three sides to the debate -- and none, on first look, is obviously attractive to a majority of voters. That means that each side has reason to obfuscate its own position or to spend more time attacking the opposition than defending its own views.
  Fred Hiatt, "Three Camps, But Few Happy Campers", The Washington Post, Aug 16, 2009
• I wish she were not such a bouncing Juno of a girl. Large, athletic women with hearty voices are difficult for one to deal with. I am a match for my aunt, whom I can obfuscate with words. But Dora doesn't understand my satire; she gives a great, healthy laugh, and says, "Oh, rot!" which scatters my intellectual armoury.
  William John Locke (1863 - 1930) A British novelist. The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne (1905)

Origin of the Word

Obfuscate, approximately 1536, derives from Latin obfuscatus, past participle of obfuscare "to darken," from ob "over" + fuscare "to make dark," from fuscus "dark."