obscuring

verb

present participle of obscure
1
as in concealing
to keep secret or shut off from view the investigative reporters obscured their real motives for visiting the company by pretending the story was about something else

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in blurring
to make dark, dim, or indistinct when it isn't obscured by smog, the view of the city from the observatory can be spectacular

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of obscuring No political spin, just a focus on the numbers from governments’ own reports and how their unique accounting rules and financial definitions are obscuring the full truth of their financial story. — Sheila Weinberg, Baltimore Sun, 9 Aug. 2026 Hundreds of millions more watching from outside of this narrow corridor will also bear witness to a spectacular partial solar eclipse, as the moon passes in front of our parent star, without fully obscuring its surface. — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 9 Aug. 2026 Unlike some other test wraps, this camo does a much more thorough job of obscuring the truck's lines and overall shape. — Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 7 Aug. 2026 Others are folded into larger portfolio deals, obscuring the price of an individual home. — Mark David, Robb Report, 7 Aug. 2026 With anonymizing techniques like face obscuring, combined with AI vision search and the kind of contextual awareness that vision-language models offer, cities can identify incidents and threats without compromising privacy. — Lee-Lean Shu, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026 On Saturday, July 25, the Deadpool star went undercover at the conference as his sword-bearing Marvel superhero, posing with fans with his character’s mask obscuring his face. — Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 27 July 2026 But Hegseth’s push for $67 billion more in emergency Iran spending — while the Pentagon directs $75 billion from last year’s tax cuts law to other military spending — may be obscuring a war cost that is far greater. — Max Tani, semafor.com, 22 July 2026 Merlin is draped in a long, light-colored cloak with a white hood over his head, obscuring his face. — Literary Hub, 22 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for obscuring
  1. concealing
  2. blurring
  3. hiding
  4. darkening
  5. covering
  6. clouding
  7. disguising
  8. blackening
Verb
  • Keith has been charged with felony concealing the death of another person and felony making false statements.
    — CBS News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 9 Aug. 2026
  • Now that Sugar’s inner monologue isn’t concealing his true self, Farrell opens up beautifully.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of concealing
Verb
  • The examples run on and on, and at a certain point the numbers begin blurring together.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Boron nitride gives the formula its silky slip and creates a blurring effect, while avocado oil adds conditioning moisture so a matte doesn’t look like skin is parched.
    — Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of blurring
Verb
  • Risk intelligence gives marketplaces visibility into emerging threats as well as those hiding in plain sight.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • In videos posted to his Instagram account, Gallegos can be seen hiding underneath a table as plumes of dust burst in the air and parts of the ceiling crashed into the ground.
    — Nicole Acevedo, NBC news, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of hiding
Verb
  • The summer sounds of 1966 offered a distraction from darkening clouds of social and political upheaval.
    — Michael Peregrine, Chicago Tribune, 1 Aug. 2026
  • The Hapsburg Inspector General, the equivalent of the food inspector darkening the doorway of a scummy restaurant?
    — Diana Arterian, Literary Hub, 16 July 2026
Definition of darkening
Verb
  • Enterprise legal teams in 2026 routinely insist on data exit covering prompts, embeddings, and fine-tunes.
    — Jason Snyder, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2026
  • Conti recommends setting up a simple observation board made from cardboard and covering it with a white sheet.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of covering
Verb
  • Then Kris drifts outside, her face clouding, followed by Billy.
    — JP Mangalindan, Time, 10 Aug. 2026
  • What underlying assumptions are clouding my strategic judgment?
    — Simone Lundquist, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of clouding
Verb
  • Nail concealer is an alternative to traditional nail polish that helps improve nails while disguising imperfections.
    — Alexis Berger, InStyle, 25 July 2026
  • That can remove visual boundaries, disguising any lines that would otherwise truncate your walls.
    — Andee Tagle, NPR, 19 July 2026
Definition of disguising
Verb
  • Check monthly for signs of shriveling (add moisture), blackening or softening (discard).
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 11 July 2026
  • The Volcano fire was among blazes this week, blackening more than 100 acres in Riverside County.
    — Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026
Definition of blackening

Browse Nearby Words

obscures
obscuring
obscurity
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Obscuring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/obscuring. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on obscuring

Nglish: Translation of obscuring for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of zeugma

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Words of the Week - Aug. 14

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All