obscurant

[ uhb-skyoor-uhnt ]

noun
  1. a person who strives to prevent the increase and spread of knowledge.

  2. a person who obscures.

adjective
  1. pertaining to or characteristic of obscurants.

  2. tending to make obscure.

Origin of obscurant

1
1790–1800; <Latin obscūrant- (stem of obscūrāns, present participle of obscūrāre), equivalent to obscūr(us) dark + -ant--ant

Words Nearby obscurant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use obscurant in a sentence

  • Overhead the ionic field was aglow, humming softly, beating back the obscurant mists.

    One Purple Hope! | Henry Hasse
  • Shun double-entendres, prurient jocosity, and pestiferous profanity, obscurant or apparent.

  • Whoever confessed his faith in the truths of the Bible was called an obscurant.

    Life of Luther | Gustav Just

British Dictionary definitions for obscurant

obscurant

/ (əbˈskjʊərənt) /


noun
  1. an opposer of reform and enlightenment

adjective
  1. of or relating to an obscurant

  2. causing obscurity

Derived forms of obscurant

  • obscurantism, noun
  • obscurantist, noun, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012