Obscurity

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əbˈskjʊəɹɪti/

Definitions

1. A state of being unknown, inconspicuous, or difficult to understand
2. The condition of not being well-known or remaining unnoticed ; the characteristic of being hard to grasp or lacking clarity
3. A situation where someone or something is not recognized or remains hidden ; the attribute of obscurity where meaning or intention is vague or confusing

Etymology: Latin "obscūritās" was built from "obscūrus," meaning dark, dim or shadowed, and the root image of dimness sits behind nearly every sense English later drew from it. The Latin noun was an ordinary word for physical darkness before it was used for murkiness of speech or thought, and that figurative shift is the path the English word followed. It reached English through Middle French "obscurité," arriving in Middle English in the form "obscurite" and its variants. The English word has kept the two strands the Latin had. It can describe something unseen, a place or person kept out of view, or something hard to make out, a passage or intention that refuses to yield its meaning. A writer who complains of a text's obscurity and a person who lives in obscurity are both using the same inherited sense of shadow.

Synonyms: invisibility, unfamiliarity, unknown, ambiguity

Antonyms: prominence, fame, celebrity, clarity