obfuscate
English
WOTD – 6 July 2007
Etymology
From the participle stem of Late Latin obfuscāre, from Latin ob- + fuscāre, present active infinitive of fuscō (“I darken”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɒbfʌskeɪt/, /ˈɒbfəskeɪt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈɑbfʌskeɪt/, /ˈɑbfəskeɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Verb
obfuscate (third-person singular simple present obfuscates, present participle obfuscating, simple past and past participle obfuscated)
- To make dark; to overshadow.
- To deliberately make more confusing in order to conceal the truth.
- obfuscate facts
- 2018, Anonymous White House Official, "White House reels as FBI director contradicts official claims about alleged abuser," Washington Post, February 13, 2018:
- When asked if Kelly could have been more transparent or truthful, that official wrote: “In this White House, it’s simply not in our DNA. Truthful and transparent is great, but we don’t even have a coherent strategy to obfuscate.”
- Before leaving the scene, the murderer set a fire in order to obfuscate any evidence of their identity.
- (computing) To alter code while preserving its behavior but concealing its structure and intent.
- We need to obfuscate these classes before we ship the final release.
Synonyms
- (to make dark): darken, eclipse, overshadow
- (to deliberately make more confusing): confuse, muddle, obscure
Antonyms
- (to deliberately make less confusing): explain, simplify
Derived terms
- obfuscatable
- unobfuscatable
Related terms
- obfuscation
- obfuscatory
- obfuscous
Translations
make dark
|
make confusing
|
alter code
|
Adjective
obfuscate (comparative more obfuscate, superlative most obfuscate)
- (obsolete) Obfuscated; darkened; obscured.
- 1531, Thomas Elyot, Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], OCLC 1026313858:
- Also the vertues beynge in a cruell persone be nat only obfuscate or hyd : But also lyke wyse as norysshynge meates and drynkes in an sycke body
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