obscure
not clearly understood, or little known
Word origin: From Latin obscurus, dark or covered.
Obscure in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing obscure in a sentence.
The poet alluded to an obscure myth that few readers would recognize.
The poet drew on an obscure regional dialect that even specialists struggled to gloss.
Using “obscure” well
As an adjective, obscure means either hard to understand or little known and unimportant. As a verb it means to hide or make unclear, so context determines the sense.
More GRE words starting with O
a stupid, clumsy, or boorish person
stubbornly refusing to change one's mind or course of action
a gesture or attitude of deep respect or submission
showing deferential respect or submissive obedience
a tapering stone pillar with a pyramidal top, typically erected as a monument
grossly overweight to a degree that poses a health risk
to make something deliberately unclear or confusing
the act of making something deliberately unclear or confusing
Questions about “obscure”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.