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Obscure vs Otherworldly - What's the difference?

obscure | otherworldly | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between obscure and otherworldly

is that obscure is dark, faint or indistinct while otherworldly is of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a different world than that of the tangible here and now, such as a heavenly, spiritual, or imaginary world.

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.

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

    * * ----

    otherworldly

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a different world than that of the tangible here and now, such as a heavenly, spiritual, or imaginary world.
  • *1917 , , God, the Invisible King , ch. 5,
  • *:Every religion that becomes ascendant, in so far as it is not otherworldly , must necessarily set its stamp upon the methods and administration of the law.
  • *2007 , Clive Davis, " Simphiwe Dana: The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street," Times of London , 26 Aug.,
  • *:Dana has the otherworldly temperament of a mystic.
  • Not belonging to the real world; unnatural; odd and unfamiliar.
  • *1919 , , Saint's Progress , ch. 7,
  • *:He had not seen cricket played since the war began; it seemed almost otherworldly , with the click of the bats, and the shrill young voices.

    • Synonyms

    * (of a different world) alien, ethereal, mystical, transcendental

    Related terms

    * otherworldy