obfuscate

7 synonyms and 4 antonyms for obfuscate, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Verb — To make something unclear or hard to understand, usually on purpose and in order to hide the truth.

Synonyms

Everyday swaps

Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.

cloud

Less common

Still standard English, but they carry more weight.

obscure muddy confuse scramble

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

befog garble

Synonyms by Meaning

1. verb

To make something unclear or hard to understand, usually on purpose and in order to hide the truth.

“The report obfuscates the losses by burying them in an appendix.”

obscure muddy cloud confuse befog

Opposites

clarify illuminate explain elucidate

2. verb technical

In computing, to rewrite code or data so that it still works but is very difficult for a human to read, typically to protect it from copying or analysis.

“The JavaScript is minified and obfuscated before release.”

scramble garble

How to use obfuscate

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

obfuscate the issue deliberately obfuscate obfuscated code obfuscate the truth

Formal, and usually critical: accusing someone of obfuscating is an accusation of bad faith.

Etymology

From Latin obfuscare "to darken", from ob- "over" and fuscus "dark, dusky".

Full origin of obfuscate →

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between obfuscate and obscure?

Obscure can be accidental and is often a state as well as an act — fog obscures a view. Obfuscate almost always implies deliberate effort to confuse, usually with words, and carries a clear note of blame.

How do you pronounce obfuscate?

OB-fuh-skayt, with the stress on the first syllable, and the f and s sounded separately. The noun is obfuscation, ob-fuh-SKAY-shuhn.

What does obfuscated code mean?

It is working source code that has been deliberately made unreadable — variable names replaced with meaningless strings, structure flattened — so that people cannot easily study or copy it. The computer runs it exactly as before; only human readers are affected.

People also searched

explain cloud clarify obscure confuse muddy scramble illuminate elucidate befog garble

Nearby words

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