different between obscurity vs dullness

English

Etymology

From Middle French obscurité, from Latin obsc?rit?s; synchronically analyzable as obscure +? -ity

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?skj????ti/, /?b?skj????ti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?skj???ti/, /?b?skj??ti/
• Hyphenation: ob?scur?ity

Noun

obscurity (countable and uncountable, plural obscurities)

1. (literary) Darkness; the absence of light.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, ch. 24

     I walked in, and Stroeve followed me. The room was in darkness. I could only see that it was an attic, with a sloping roof; and a faint glimmer, no more than a less profound obscurity, came from a skylight.

2. The state of being unknown; a thing that is unknown.
3. The quality of being difficult to understand; a thing that is difficult to understand.

Synonyms

• (the state of being unknown): unknownness

Antonyms

• (the state of being known): fame
• (the state of being clear): clarity

Related terms

• obscure

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• dulness

Etymology

From dull +? -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?l.n?s/

Noun

dullness (usually uncountable, plural dullnesses)

1. The quality of being slow of understanding things; stupidity.
2. The quality of being uninteresting; boring or irksome.
3. Lack of interest or excitement.
4. The lack of visual brilliance; want of sheen.

5. (of an edge) bluntness.
6. The quality of not perceiving or kenning things distinctly.

7. (archaic) Drowsiness.
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I scene ii^[1]:

     Prospero: […] Thou art inclin'd to sleep. 'Tis a good dulness, / And give it way— I know thou canst not choose.

Translations