The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - obscure adj.

1) dark, unlit, gloomy, sombre, dismal, murky, dusky, black, Cimmerian, tenebrous, dim, faint, blurred, veiled, shadowy, subfusc, subfuscous, umbral, shady, hazy, foggy, befogged, clouded, nebulous, overcast, cloudy: The traveller's lantern was barely seen in the obscure reaches of the wood. 2) unclear, uncertain, ambiguous, vague, hazy, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, indefinite, indistinct, fuzzy, blurred, confused, confusing, Delphic, puzzling, enigmatic, perplexing, baffling, mystifying, mysterious, cryptic, incomprehensible, unfamiliar, foreign, strange: The sorcerer muttered some obscure words, and a golden horse stood prancing before them. 3) secret, concealed, hidden, remote, out-of-the-way, inconspicuous, unnoticeable, secluded, unnoticed: The caped figure scurried down the alley and disappeared into some obscure doorway. 4) unknown, unheard-of, anonymous, unnamed, insignificant, unimportant, inconsequential, humble, lowly, mean, inglorious, inconspicuous, undistinguished, unnoticed, unsung, minor, little-known: Though extremely popular, the song was written by an obscure composer. 5 abstruse, arcane, recondite, esoteric, intricate, complex, occult, out of the ordinary, unfamiliar, Colloq far-out: He is an authority on some obscure subject like Coptic calligraphy. --v. 6) cover, conceal, hide, veil, shroud, cloak, mask, screen, disguise, keep from: Her link with military intelligence was obscured from her family. 7) dim, bedim, cloud, becloud, dull, shroud, shade, adumbrate, overshadow, darken, obfuscate, block, eclipse: The street lamp was obscured by trees.