obfuscate

English

WOTD – 6 July 2007

Etymology

From the participle stem of Late Latin obfuscāre, from Latin ob- + fuscāre, present active infinitive of fuscō (“I darken”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒbfʌskeɪt/, /ˈɒbfəskeɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːbfʌskeɪt/, /ˈɑːbfəskeɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

obfuscate (third-person singular simple present obfuscates, present participle obfuscating, simple past and past participle obfuscated)

1. To make dark; overshadow
2. To deliberately make more confusing in order to conceal the truth.

   obfuscate facts

   • 2018, Anonymous White House Official, "White House reels as FBI director contradicts official claims about alleged abuser," Washington Post, February 13, 2018:

     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.”

   Before leaving the scene, the murderer set a fire in order to obfuscate any evidence of their identity.

3. (computing) 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.

Synonyms

• (to make dark): darken, eclipse, overshadow
• (to deliberately make more confusing): confuse, muddle, obscure

Antonyms

• (to deliberately make less confusing): explain, simplify

Derived terms

• obfuscatable
• unobfuscatable

Related terms

• obfuscation
• obfuscatory
• obfuscous

Translations

make dark

• Bulgarian: замъглявам (bg) (zamǎgljavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 弄暗 (nòng'àn)

• Dutch: verduisteren (nl)
• Finnish: varjostaa (fi), pimentää
• French: obscurcir (fr)
• German: verfinstern (de), verdunkeln (de), dunkel machen
• Hebrew: החשיך‎ (hekhshíkh)

• Hungarian: elhomályosít (hu), elsötétít (hu)
• Italian: ottenebrare (it), offuscare (it)
• Maori: whakauriuri, whakapōuri
• Norwegian: formørke, overskygge
• Polish: zaciemniać (pl), zaciemnić (pl)
• Portuguese: ofuscar (pt)
• Romanian: întuneca (ro), umbri (ro)
• Russian: затемня́ть (ru) impf (zatemnjátʹ), затемни́ть (ru) pf (zatemnítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: zatamniti (sh)

make confusing

• Bulgarian: обърквам (bg) (obǎrkvam), смущавам (bg) (smuštavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混淆 (zh) (hùnxiáo), 弄亂 (zh), 弄乱 (zh) (nòngluàn), 搞亂 (zh), 搞乱 (zh) (gǎoluàn), ^{(please verify)} 使模糊 (shǐ móhu), ^{(please verify)} 使混亂, ^{(please verify)} 使混乱 (shǐ hùnluàn), ^{(please verify)} 使糊塗, ^{(please verify)} 使糊涂 (shǐ hútu)

• Finnish: peittää (fi)
• French: embrouiller (fr)
• German: verdunkeln (de), verschleiern (de)
• Hebrew: בלבל‎ (bilbél), סיבך‎ (sibékh), הקשה‎ (hikshá)
• Hungarian: összezavar (hu)
• Italian: offuscare (it), ottenebrare (it)
• Maori: whakakōpekapeka, whakapōhēhē

• Norwegian: forkludre, forvirre (no), tåkelegge
• Portuguese: ofuscar (pt)
• Romanian: confunda (ro), încurca (ro), zăpăci (ro)
• Russian: запу́тывать (ru) impf (zapútyvatʹ), запу́тать (ru) pf (zapútatʹ), сбива́ть с то́лку (ru) impf (sbivátʹ s tólku), сбить с то́лку (ru) pf (sbitʹ s tólku), темни́ть (ru) impf (temnítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: са̀крити, замрљати

  Roman: sàkriti (sh), zamrljati (sh)

• Spanish: ofuscar (es)

alter code

• French: obscurcir (fr), occulter (fr)
• German: obfuskieren
• Japanese: 難読化する (なんどくかする, nandokuka suru)
• Norwegian: obfuskere

• Polish: zaciemniać (pl)
• Portuguese: ofuscar (pt)
• Spanish: ofuscar (es)

Adjective

obfuscate (comparative more obfuscate, superlative most obfuscate)

1. (obsolete) Obfuscated; darkened; obscured.
   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], OCLC 1026313858:

     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