OBSCURES Synonyms: 77 Similar and Opposite Words

obscures

verb

present tense third-person singular of obscure

as in conceals

to keep secret or shut off from view the investigative reporters obscured their real motives for visiting the company by pretending the story was about something else

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as in blurs

to make dark, dim, or indistinct when it isn't obscured by smog, the view of the city from the observatory can be spectacular

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of obscures Eclipses always travel in pairs as the sun, moon and Earth align so precisely that one obscures the other. — Marcia Dunn, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Aug. 2026 Rather than blocking the sun entirely, the moon obscures only a portion of it, leaving behind the eclipse's signature crescent shape. — Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 12 Aug. 2026 The timing of the eclipse — and how long the moon fully obscures the sun — will vary by location. — Raf Sanchez, NBC news, 12 Aug. 2026 This obscures the blinding light of the sun, allowing viewers to glimpse our star's outer atmosphere, or corona. — Brett Tingley, Space.com, 12 Aug. 2026 When the moon obscures most of the sun just before totality, leaving only a thin sliver of sunlight, the turbulence becomes visible. — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026 Casting Gen Z’s reactions as nihilistic obscures the values and institutional distrust connected to them and fails to appreciate their egalitarian and pragmatic ideals. — Evan Clarkson, The Conversation, 6 Aug. 2026 This is a shame, and not only because the book’s style obscures its significance as the most high-profile effort by that date to marry what were then the two most important currents of French philosophy. — Literary Hub, 21 July 2026 Studying differences at the state level further obscures the signal by combining rural California with San Francisco Bay Area counties or upstate New York with New York City. — Marc Lipsitch, STAT, 21 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for obscures

Verb

The snail’s diminutive size, however, conceals a massive secret.

— Carrie Arnold Contributing, Quanta Magazine, 2 Sep. 2026
Co-created by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green, Blue Eye Samurai follows the story of Mizu, a samurai who conceals her gender and mixed-race heritage after facing a life of discrimination, on a personal quest for revenge.

— Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of conceals

Verb

Walruses were once hunted in vast numbers, for their blubber, hides and ivory, driving them close to extinction in Svalbard’s waters, before hunting was banned in 1952.

— Sarah Kingdom, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
There clearly continues to be something very evocative about the idea that all the mundane pop-culture ephemera from one’s youth hides something darker.

— Alison Willmore, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of hides

Verb

The stream will feature real-time views of the Sturgeon Moon as Earth's shadow darkens its surface in the skies above Portugal and Spain, weather permitting.

— Anthony Wood, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2026
The planet becomes easier to identify as the sky darkens, making the best time for viewing during the late-night and early-morning hours.

— Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of darkens

Verb

This annual launch window systematically overshadows events like IFA Berlin, depriving mid-range Android devices of crucial media attention.

— Ewan Spence, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2026
But the strategic cocktail of soft nationalism, corporate politics and ticket-sales boosterism that constitutes the wild card system more often overshadows sporting fairness.

— Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of overshadows

Verb

Researchers in South Korea have unveiled a tri-layer composite solid electrolyte (CSE) that boosts ion transport and suppresses dendrite growth in lithium-metal batteries (LMBs).

— Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2026
The world unjustly suppresses and gives pain to an individual.

— Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of suppresses

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obscureness

obscures

obscuring

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“Obscures.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obscures. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of obscures

verb

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