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obscurity

[uhb-skyoor-i-tee]

Example Sentences Origin

noun, plural -ties.

the state or quality of being obscure.

the condition of being unknown: He lived in obscurity for years before winning acclaim.

uncertainty of meaning or expression; ambiguity.

an unknown or unimportant person or thing.

darkness; dimness; indistinctness.

Origin:
1470–80; late Middle English < Middle French obscurite < Latin obscūritās, equivalent to obscūr(us) obscure + -itās -ity

Related forms

non·ob·scu·ri·ty, noun, plural -ties.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To obscurity

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Obscurity is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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Example Sentences

Jabez's obscurity makes him ideal for the narrative of conversion and redemption.

And yet as he keeps piling up the inventions and awards, his relative obscurity in wider society worries him.

But beyond that everything remains shrouded in obscurity.

EXPAND

Jabez's obscurity makes him ideal for the narrative of conversion and redemption.

And yet as he keeps piling up the inventions and awards, his relative obscurity in wider society worries him.

But beyond that everything remains shrouded in obscurity.

Now our understanding of this civilization is once again threatened with obscurity.

But a new skin patch has resurrected the drugs from obscurity.

I'd long been amused and amazed by the geoduck's rise from obscurity to delicacy.

Microsoft went on to describe a few scenarios that it says illustrates the bug's obscurity.

Members of collegiate a cappella groups typically harmonize in obscurity before graduating and going their separate ways.

The obscurity and unfashionability of her subject do not help her case.

It was a twenty-year-long journey for this idea to move from virtual obscurity to today's growing popularity.

Security by obscurity simply doesn't work from long term perspective.

As for the piano-violin, it fell into a probably well-deserved obscurity.

It turns out that a name's sad tumble into obscurity is tightly correlated with the speed of its rise.

Some service tasks will consign you to comparative obscurity.

The few who did tackle it worked abroad or in obscurity on a shoestring.

No easy feat, for sure, but it beats laboring in obscurity.

Parallel-programming languages in particular tend to languish in academic obscurity.

Each fall since then has seen the launch of a new version of the hardware, and each has seen it quietly fade into obscurity.

They play a strain of punk that has consigned innumerable bands to the obscurity of dive bars and pirate radio.

People sometimes confuse obscurity with bad quality.

Of late years it has languished in obscurity and neglect, visited.

No longer do small country auction houses have to languish in obscurity.

After years of obscurity in the corners of distant planetary systems smaller exoplanets are finally shuffling into the spotlight.

The bird's obscurity is due in large part to the remoteness of its habitat.

Unlike his other writings, it soon fell into obscurity.

One advantage of being a notch above total obscurity is that sometimes somebody notices you.

The government was desperate for a flagship project to propel the country from obscurity into the world's tourism.

He is one of those types, notorious in their own day, who sink rapidly into obscurity after.

His stance has catapulted him from obscurity to international celebrity and also brought him death threats.

He might have lived out his days in obscurity had it not been for his father's obsession with collecting antiquities.

Sequoia in fact has been a champion of security through obscurity since it's been selling voting systems.

Our favorite stories involve immigrants climbing from obscurity to success.

No more easy profits based on the obscurity of its intellectual property.

It had languished in obscurity for decades and was in sorry condition.

No university can go from obscurity to top-100 global status in five years.

The more countries and companies compete for talent, the better the chances that geniuses will be raked up from obscurity.

Security through obscurity does not work with exams.

The book would rise from obscurity and be part of our history again.

Secularism as a political movement will fade to obscurity if it clings to the facile mantra that religion poisons everything.

The obscurity of the writer also depends on how familiar you are with the traditions he/she is writing.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

obscurity (əbˈskjʊərɪtɪ)

—n , pl -ties
1.	the state or quality of being obscure
2.	an obscure person or thing

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

obscurity

late 15c., "absence of light;" 1619 with meaning "condition of being unknown;" from obscure + -ity.

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"My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the obscurity of a learned language."

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