different between obfuscate vs circumlocution

English

Etymology

From the participle stem of Late Latin obfusc?re, from Latin ob- + fusc?re, present active infinitive of fusc? (“I darken”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??bf?ske?t/, /??bf?ske?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???bf?ske?t/, /???bf?ske?t/

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.
   • 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.

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

Adjective

obfuscate (comparative more obfuscate, superlative most obfuscate)

1. (obsolete) Obfuscated; darkened; obscured.
   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke named the Governour

     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

English

Etymology

From Latin circumloc?ti? (“the act of speaking around; circumlocution, periphrasis”). Surface analysis circum- (“around”) +? locution (“talk”), thus "getting around (a problem) in speaking or writing". Probably a calque of Ancient Greek ?????????? (períphrasis, “periphrasis”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??k?ml??kju???n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?k?ml??kju??n/
• Rhymes: -u???n
• Hyphenation: cir?cum?lo?cu?tion

Noun

circumlocution (countable and uncountable, plural circumlocutions)

1. (uncountable) A roundabout or indirect way of speaking; thus:
   1. (uncountable) Unnecessary use of extra words to express an idea, such as a pleonastic phrase (sometimes driven by an attempt at emphatic clarity) or a wordy substitution (the latter driven by euphemistic intent, pedagogic intent, or sometimes loquaciousness alone).
   2. (uncountable) Necessary use of a phrase to circumvent either a vocabulary fault (of speaker or listener) or a lexical gap, either monolingually or in translation.

2. (countable) An instance of such usage; a roundabout expression, whether an inadvisable one or a necessary one.

Synonyms

• periphrasis
• ambages

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• beat around the bush
• go around the houses
• euphemism
• mince words, mince matters
• equivocation (the use of expressions susceptible of a double signification, possibly intentionally and with the aim of misleading)
• evasive (tending to avoid speaking openly or making revelations about oneself)
• prevarication (evasion of the truth; deceit, evasiveness)
• hedge (to avoid verbal commitment)
• waffle (to speak or write vaguely and evasively; to speak or write at length without any clear point or aim)