Obscure vs Equivocal - What's the difference?
obscure | equivocal |
Dark, faint or indistinct.
* (Dante Alighieri), , 1, 1-2
* Bible, Proverbs xx. 20
Hidden, out of sight or inconspicuous.
* (William Shakespeare)
* Sir J. Davies
Difficult to understand.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (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)
* (William Wake) (1657-1737)
*{{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
To conceal oneself; to hide.
* (Beaumont and Fletcher) (1603-1625)
Having two or more equally applicable meanings; capable of double or multiple interpretation; ambiguous; uncertain.
* Jeffrey
Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; deserving to be suspected.
* Milton
Uncertain, as an indication or sign; doubtful, incongruous.
* Burke
As adjectives the difference between obscure and equivocal
is that obscure is dark, faint or indistinct while equivocal is having two or more equally applicable meanings; capable of double or multiple interpretation; ambiguous; uncertain.As a verb obscure
is 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.As a noun equivocal is
a word or expression capable of different meanings; an ambiguous term; an equivoque.obscure
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- I found myself in an obscure wood.
- His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
- The obscure bird / Clamoured the livelong night.
- the obscure corners of the earth
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 * esotericAntonyms
* clearDerived terms
* obscurable * unobscurableVerb
(obscur)- They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscured lights.
- There is scarce any duty which has been so obscured by the writings of learned men as this.
- I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity.
- How! There's bad news. / I must obscure , and hear it.
External links
* * ----equivocal
English
(Webster 1913)Alternative forms
* (rare)Synonyms
* double entendreAdjective
(en adjective)- equivocal''' words; an '''equivocal sentence
- For the beauties of Shakespeare are not of so dim or equivocal a nature as to be visible only to learned eyes.
- His actions are equivocal .
- equivocal repentances
- How equivocal a test.