different between obscure vs screen

English

Etymology

From Middle English obscure, from Old French obscur, from Latin obsc?rus (“dark, dusky, indistinct”), from ob- +? *sc?rus, from Proto-Italic *skoiros, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)?eh?-.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?skj??(?)/, /?b?skj??(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?skj??/, /?b?skj?/
• Rhymes: -??(?), -??(?), -??(?)
• Hyphenation: ob?scure

Adjective

obscure (comparative obscurer or more obscure, superlative obscurest or most obscure)

1. Dark, faint or indistinct.
   • 1892, Denton Jaques Snider, Inferno, 1, 1-2 (originally by Dante Alighieri)

     I found myself in an obscure wood.

   • His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.

2. Hidden, out of sight or inconspicuous.
   • 1606, John Davies of Hereford, Bien Venu

     the obscure corners of the earth

3. Difficult to understand.

4. Not well-known.
5. Unknown or uncertain; unclear.

   The etymological roots of the word "blizzard" are obscure and open to debate.

Usage notes

• The comparative obscurer and superlative obscurest, though formed by valid rules for English, are less common than more obscure and most obscure.

Synonyms

• (dark): cimmerian, dingy; See also Thesaurus:dark
• (faint or indistinct): fuzzy, ill-defined; See also Thesaurus:indistinct
• (hidden, out of sight): occluded, secluded; See also Thesaurus:hidden
• (difficult to understand): fathomless, inscrutable; See also Thesaurus:incomprehensible
• (not well-known): enigmatic, esoteric, mysterious; See also Thesaurus:arcane

Antonyms

• clear

Derived terms

• obscurable
• unobscurable
• obscureness

Related terms

• obscurity
• obscuration

Translations

Verb

obscure (third-person singular simple present obscures, present participle obscuring, simple past and past participle obscured)

1. (transitive) To render obscure; to darken; to make dim; to keep in the dark; to hide; to make less visible, intelligible, legible, glorious, beautiful, or illustrious.
   • c. 1688', William Wake, Preparation for Death

     There is scarce any duty which has been so obscured in the writings of learned men as this.

2. (transitive) To hide, put out of sight etc.
   • 1994, Bill Watterson, Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, page 62

     I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity.

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To conceal oneself; to hide.

   • How! There's bad news. / I must obscure, and hear it.

Synonyms

• (to render obscure; to darken; dim): becloud, bedarken, bedim, bemist

Translations

Further reading

• obscure in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• obscure in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Cuberos

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p.sky?/

Adjective

obscure

1. feminine singular of obscur

Anagrams

• courbes

Latin

Adjective

obsc?re

1. vocative masculine singular of obsc?rus

References

• obscure in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• obscure in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• obscure in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

English

Etymology

From Middle English scren, screne (“windscreen, firescreen”), from Anglo-Norman escren (“firescreen, the tester of a bed”), Old French escren, escrein, escran (modern French écran (“screen”)), from Middle Dutch scherm, from Old Dutch *skirm, from Proto-West Germanic *skirmi, from Proto-Germanic *skirmiz (“fur, shelter, covering, screen”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide”). Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen”), German Schirm (“screen”). Doublet of scherm.

An alternative etymology derives Old French escren from Old Dutch *skrank (“barrier”) (compare German Schrank (“cupboard”), Schranke (“fence”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: skr?n, IPA^(key): /sk?i?n/
• Rhymes: -i?n

Noun

screen (plural screens)

1. A physical divider intended to block an area from view, or provide shelter from something dangerous.
2. A material woven from fine wires intended to block animals or large particles from passing while allowing gasses, liquids and finer particles to pass.
   1. (mining, quarrying) A frame supporting a mesh of bars or wires used to classify fragments of stone by size, allowing the passage of fragments whose a diameter is smaller than the distance between the bars or wires.
   2. (baseball) The protective netting which protects the audience from flying objects

   3. (printing) A stencil upon a framed mesh through which paint is forced onto printed-on material; the frame with the mesh itself.
3. (by analogy) Searching through a sample for a target; an act of screening
   1. (genetics) A technique used to identify genes so as to study gene functions.
4. Various forms or formats of information display
   1. The viewing surface or area of a movie, or moving picture or slide presentation.
   2. The informational viewing area of electronic devices, where output is displayed.
      • 1977, Sex Pistols, Spunk, “Problems” (song):

   3. One of the individual regions of a video game, etc. divided into separate screens.
      • 1988, Marcus Berkmann, Sophistry (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 30, June 1988

      • 1989, Compute (volume 11, page 51)

   4. (computing) The visualised data or imagery displayed on a computer screen.

5. Definitions related to standing in the path of an opposing player
   1. (American football) Short for screen pass.
   2. (basketball) An offensive tactic in which a player stands so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.

      Synonym: pick

6. (cricket) An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to make the ball more easily visible.
7. (nautical) A collection of less-valuable vessels that travel with a more valuable one for the latter's protection.
8. (architecture) A dwarf wall or partition carried up to a certain height for separation and protection, as in a church, to separate the aisle from the choir, etc.
9. (Scotland, archaic) A large scarf.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

Verb

screen (third-person singular simple present screens, present participle screening, simple past and past participle screened)

1. To filter by passing through a screen.

   Mary screened the beans to remove the clumps of gravel.

2. To shelter or conceal.
3. To remove information, or censor intellectual material from viewing.

   The news report was screened because it accused the politician of wrongdoing.

4. (film, television) To present publicly (on the screen).

   The news report will be screened at 11:00 tonight.

5. To fit with a screen.

   We need to screen this porch. These bugs are driving me crazy.

6. (medicine) To examine patients or treat a sample in order to detect a chemical or a disease, or to assess susceptibility to a disease.
7. (molecular biology) To search chemical libraries by means of a computational technique in order to identify chemical compounds which would potentially bind to a given biological target such as a protein.
8. (basketball) To stand so as to block a defender from reaching a teammate.

   Synonym: pick

9. To determine the source or subject matter of a call before deciding whether to answer the phone.
   • 1987 April 7, Associated Press (story title as printed in New York Times[1])

     A Phone to Screen Calls

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• screen in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• screen in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• screen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• censer, scener, scerne, secern