OBFUSCATE

How it’s pronounced

Definition:

To deliberately make something unclear or confusing.

Examples:

• “Can you just answer the question and stop trying to obfuscate everything with corporate jargon?”

• “He said he ‘strategically minimized transparency’—which I think is just a fancy way to obfuscate the fact that he lied.”

Etymology:

From Latin obfuscare (“to darken”), from ob (“over”) + fuscare (“to blacken”).

First recorded in the late 16th century.

Know someone who might enjoy this newsletter?