obscurity

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun the quality of being unclear or abstruse and hard to understand
noun an obscure and unimportant standing; not well known
noun the state of being indistinct or indefinite for lack of adequate illumination

From Middle English obscurite, obscuryte, from Middle French obscurité and its etymon Latin obscūritās. By surface analysis, obscure + -ity.

All else was rayless obscurity. — The Time Machine, H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Again Gavroche plunged into the obscurity. — Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
Both kinds of obscurity exist in Browning. — From Chaucer to Tennyson: With Twenty-Nine Portraits and Selections from Thirty Authors, Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers

obscureness, abstruseness, reconditeness

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