different between obfuscate vs obviate

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 obvi?re (“to block, to hinder”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??bvi?e?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??bvi?e?t/
• Hyphenation: ob?vi?ate

Verb

obviate (third-person singular simple present obviates, present participle obviating, simple past and past participle obviated)

1. (transitive) To anticipate and prevent or bypass (something which would otherwise have been necessary or required).
2. (transitive) To avoid (a future problem or difficult situation).
   • 1826, Richard Reece, A Practical Dissertation on the Means of Obviating & Treating the Varieties of Costiveness, page 181:

     A mild dose of a warm active aperient to obviate costiveness, or to produce two motions daily, is generally very beneficial.

   • 2004, David J. Anderson, Agile Management for Software Engineering, page 180:

     Some change requests, rather than extend the scope, obviate some of the existing scope of a project.

   • 2008, William S. Kroger, Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis: In Medicine, Dentistry, and Psychology, page 163:

     Thus, to obviate resistance, the discussion should be relevant to the patient?s problems.

   • 2019, Gary Younge, Shamima Begum has a right to British citizenship, whether you like it or not, in the Guardian.[1]

     A government that thinks it can take on the world with Brexit can’t take back a bereaved teenaged mother with fundamentalist delusions. Moreover, the risk does not obviate two crucial facts in this case. First and foremost, she is a citizen ... Second, when Begum went to Syria she was a child.

Usage notes

• Garner's Modern American Usage (2009) notes that phrases like obviate the necessity or obviate the need are sometimes considered redundant, but "these phrases are not redundancies, for the true sense of obviate the necessity is 'to prevent the necessity (from arising),' hence to make unnecessary."

Translations

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ob.u?i?a?.te/, [?bu?i?ä?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ob.vi?a.te/, [?bvi???t??]

Verb

obvi?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of obvi?