I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a mist obscures/hides sth (= covers something so that you cannot see it )
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Mist obscured the ships in the harbor.
obscure the view (= make it difficult to see )
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A wall of mist obscured the view.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
more
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As a system gets larger the logic becomes more obscure , modification more risky and debugging increasingly problematic.
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The actor was a little more obscure about expressing his enthusiasm for Gingrich.
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I don't get the impression that they tried to make a statement by getting more and more obscure .
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The upward route is ten times harder and more obscure .
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The effect is still good, but harmonically more obscure and dissonant.
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I also tried to be a little more obscure and interesting in my song selections.
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By the 1740s, Stukeley's beliefs were becoming more obscure .
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War has had a searchlight effect on historians as well as contemporaries, rendering the area outside the beam yet more obscure .
most
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So you can find a diverse range of factoids and opinions on even the most obscure subjects.
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About the most obscure thing touted is the fountain in Fountain Hills.
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Then the Shorthand Subsection, which could attack the most obscure foreign shorthand systems.
rather
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The proposed arrangements however are rather obscure .
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The history of that volume in the following five or ten years, however, is rather obscure .
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The reasons for Government initiative in this area, however disjointed during this period 1966-77, are rather obscure .
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On the available photostat of the photostat some ranks and names are unfortunately rather obscure .
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In any event, the Labour party's suggestion of a minimum wage is in itself rather obscure and bizarre.
relatively
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Until her assassination she had led a quiet and relatively obscure life.
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The reasons for this have been widely discussed yet remain relatively obscure .
still
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Mr Serrano's motives are still obscure .
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This bureaucracy, for reasons still obscure , had decided that my posture was a disgrace and had to be corrected.
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The true nature of this revolt is still obscure .
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On November 24, they came to Madison and chose it, for reasons still obscure , over more water-blessed locations.
■ NOUN
corner
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They clattered on as far as the door; under workbenches, into cracks, finding every obscure corner .
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He merely watched the obscure corners of the busy planet and poked his stubby nose into dusty crannies.
origin
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The house of Albret had emerged from obscure origins to become the most important single lineage in the duchy.
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He is viewed as an outcast because of his obscure origin and mixed blood.
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Despite his obscure origins Warltire established himself as a fashionable itinerant lecturer on chemistry and a supplier of laboratory chemicals.
reason
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For some obscure reason you had to be taken over.
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Archer understood that he ran the risk of having his mandate withdrawn, and for some obscure reason he disliked the prospect.
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And that faced her with a course of action which, for some obscure reason , seemed rather distasteful now.
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Occasionally, for some obscure reason of her own, Elinor was pleasant.
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My colleagues and I will vote against the Bill, and not for any obscure reason .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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obscure regulations
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an obscure Flemish painter
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Best's art is eccentric and obscure .
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He's using an obscure old law to try to stop the new road being built.
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Picasso's first exhibition received only a short mention in an obscure Parisian newspaper.
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Publishers would not print his earlier poetry because they felt it was too obscure .
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The connection between the studies is somewhat obscure .
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The lines were written by an obscure English poet named Mordaunt.
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The Silver Apples are one of those obscure bands that you might hear about, but never actually hear.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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About the most obscure thing touted is the fountain in Fountain Hills.
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Each sprang from the obscure underside of the society.
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It was satisfying to send away and get this obscure stuff in the mail.
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Laurence Hurst has pursued an obscure hint of a gender-altering parasite among human beings.
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The proposed arrangements however are rather obscure .
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You're not expected to input anything too obscure though, so frustrations in this respect are kept to a minimum.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
almost
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When they reached the stairway the flights of stairs were almost obscured by the thick clouds of smoke.
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On a sunny day, it shimmers brightly, almost obscuring the fine frescoes and reliefs that now adorn the structure.
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As discussed in Chapter I government statistics obscure almost as much as they reveal the extent of poverty among women.
completely
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It is almost completely obscured by the tree which surrounds it and hides the light under its foliage.
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And the once-glorious view of the declivity was now completely obscured by trees and brush.
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Eventually the hatch window was completely obscured by the smoke inside.
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It was about two hours after dark, when the moon was completely obscured by the monsoon clouds.
often
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Some stance, some action is taken, which often obscures the underlying dilemma.
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The plates of the oral frame are often obscured by thickened skin.
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Borders, passports and state institutions exist, but they often obscure deeper passions and identities.
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However, such simplistic answers often obscure rather more than they reveal.
■ NOUN
difference
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These simple comparisons obscure important differences among the presidential democracies that may have a bearing on democratic survival.
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Because of its application to both speech and writing it has helped to obscure the difference between the two.
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Differences at the lower end of the scale are obscured by the massive differences at the top end.
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In a key area Bush tried to obscure his differences with Gore.
face
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Her shoulder-length hair obscured her face , though Alice moved position to try and see more than a slab of cheek.
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Distance and haze obscured their messy faces .
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Duck sometimes has these patches obscure , when uniform face is best distinction from other two scoters.
fact
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But that debate should not obscure the fact that private investment was the key that unlocked the Channel Tunnel door.
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But it still obscures the fact that it is women who are raped.
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The authors say the argument has obscured the fact that, under either financing plan, there will be a funding gap.
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This should not obscure the obvious fact that they are also profit-making concerns, too.
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This striking rate of growth should not obscure the fact that the absolute level of industrial activity was still extremely low.
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Many teachers try to obscure the fact that they are teaching in a multiracial school.
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Second, the furore obscured the fact that Velikovsky was making an important point: catastrophes have occurred in the past.
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This obscures the fact that although States act as their representatives in international arenas, individuals remain as third parties.
plate
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The arms are long up to 10 times the disk diameter, covered with skin which obscures the underlying plates .
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And remember that it is illegal to drive with an obscured license plate .
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The jaws are armed with spine-like mouth papillae, otherwise covered by thick skin which obscures the associated plates .
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The arms may be covered by a thin covering of skin which may obscure the plates .
sun
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Fitful clouds were beginning to obscure the sun .
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The coppery smog was so thick it obscured the setting sun .
view
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A white mist obscured the view , gave the high-rise buildings a ghostly look.
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The trees have grown so tall, they obscure part of the view , she noted.
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What was it that was happening, with this stilted mist hanging, obscuring the view of all but the immediate path ahead.
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The cloud of smoke for some minutes completely enveloped the gunners and obscured them from view .
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At first Ellie was not sure who it was, as her father totally obscured her view .
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But smog obscures this view for all but a few days a year.
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Unfortunately a fourth hangs a tea-towel over the window at this point, obscuring my view .
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Merlyn was a dark column near a window, apparently looking out of it although the torrent obscured the view .
■ VERB
remain
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Policies emerge that are not merely compromises but also remain obscure on key points of implementation.
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Both the personality and the work remain famously obscure in a way which seems almost contrived.
tend
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The tactical model leads from a political position to pseudo-research, where facts are ignored because they might tend to obscure argument.
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These movements and earlier erosion have tended to obscure Mesozoic and Paleozoic structures.
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The use of quantification in studies of crime tends to obscure this diversity.
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Corruption in the process of translation has tended to obscure more than names.
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However, this relative prosperity tends to obscure the precarious living conditions of the 3.5m Kurds who live in the area.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Parts of the coast were obscured by fog.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Despite the obscuring veil of time, many researchers can make out the traces of the Supercontinent Cycle in the Precambrian.
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Everything upon which her eyes focused was obscured by a heavy veil.
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Fitful clouds were beginning to obscure the sun.
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If the finger is used, the image is partly obscured by the hand.
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It must be redesigned so that it illuminates the choices facing the country - not, as now, obscures them.
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Soon, they would catch up with the sun and obscure it.
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That banner ad obscured an ad on the Time site for PointCast, which competes with NewsPage.
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The staining frequently obscured the nucleus making assessment of the presence of nuclear staining difficult.