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Nuanced vs Obscure - What's the difference?

nuanced | obscure |

As adjectives the difference between nuanced and obscure

is that nuanced is having nuances; possessed of multiple layers of detail, pattern, or meaning while obscure is dark, faint or indistinct.

As a verb obscure is

(label) to render obscure; to darken; to make dim; to keep in the dark; to hide; to make less visible, intelligible, legible, glorious, beautiful, or illustrious.

nuanced

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having nuances; possessed of multiple layers of detail, pattern, or meaning
    • The setting sunlight played through the gently waving branches, creating subtly nuanced transitions of color and tone as the shadows swept back and forth in the rosy glow.
  • * 1989 , R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: 1-9:1 :
    • I would like to have heard his intonation delicately nuanced so as to carry the greatest punch. I would like to have seen the changes of expression that played across his face as he spoke.''
  • * 1998 , Meredith Parsons Lillich, The Queen of Sicily and Gothic Stained Glass in Mussy and Tonnerre :
    • ...the pattern normally straightens into an almost pure latticework of identical quarries and the foliage painting becomes much more nuanced and delicate.

    obscure

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Dark, faint or indistinct.
  • * (Dante Alighieri), , 1, 1-2
    • I found myself in an obscure wood.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xx. 20
    • His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
  • Hidden, out of sight or inconspicuous.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • The obscure bird / Clamoured the livelong night.
  • * Sir J. Davies
    • the obscure corners of the earth
  • Difficult to understand.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure .}}

    Usage notes

    * The comparative obscurer and superlative obscurest, though formed by valid rules for English, are less common than more obscure' and ' most obscure .

    Synonyms

    * enigmatic * mysterious * esoteric

    Antonyms

    * clear

    Derived terms

    * obscurable * unobscurable

    Related terms

    * obscurity * obscuration

    Verb

    (obscur)
  • (label) To render obscure; to darken; to make dim; to keep in the dark; to hide; to make less visible, intelligible, legible, glorious, beautiful, or illustrious.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscured lights.
  • * (William Wake) (1657-1737)
    • There is scarce any duty which has been so obscured by the writings of learned men as this.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
    • , passage=But Richmond
  • (label) To hide, put out of sight etc.
  • * (Bill Watterson), Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat , page 62
    • I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity.
  • To conceal oneself; to hide.
  • * (Beaumont and Fletcher) (1603-1625)
    • How! There's bad news. / I must obscure , and hear it.

    External links

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