obfuscate

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
16
Words With Friends
19
Letters
9
Pronunciation
/ˈɒbfəskeɪt/
See all 6 pronunciations
/ˈɒbfəskeɪt/ · /ˈɑbfəskeɪt/ · /ˈɑbfjuskeɪt/ · /ˈɔbfəskæɪt/ · /ˈɒbfəskæɪt/ · [ˈɔ̟bfəskæɪt]

Definition of obfuscate

4 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. To make dark; to overshadow.
See all 4 definitions

verb

  1. To make dark; to overshadow.
  2. To deliberately make more confusing in order to conceal the truth.
    “obfuscate facts”
    “Can weakness be really obfuscated?”
    “Before leaving the scene, the murderer set a fire in order to obfuscate any evidence of his identity.”
    “When asked if Kelly could have been more transparent or truthful, that official wrote: “In this White House, it’s simply not in our DNA. Truthful and transparent is great, but we don’t even have a coherent strategy to obfuscate.””
  3. To alter code while preserving its behavior but concealing its structure and intent.
    “We need to obfuscate these classes before we ship the final release.”

adj

  1. (obsolete)Obfuscated; darkened; obscured.
    “Also the vertues beynge in a cruell persone be nat only obfuscate or hyd : But also lyke wyse as norysshynge meates and drynkes in an sycke body”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

The adjective is first attested in 1487, in Middle English, the verb in 1536; either borrowed from Middle French obfusquer, offusquer, from Old French offusquer, or directly from Late Latin obfuscātus, offuscātus, the perfect passive participle of obfuscō, offuscō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Latin ob- + fuscō (“to darken”). Doublet of dusken (“to darken, make obscure”).

Words you can make from obfuscate

200+ playable · top: OUTFACES (13 pts)

Best play outfaces 13 points

7-letter words

5 words

6-letter words

14 words

5-letter words

69 words

4-letter words

111 words

Hooks

2 extensions · 2 back

A single letter you can add to obfuscate to make another valid word.

Find your best play with obfuscate

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes obfuscate, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.