Obscurant

//ɒbˈskjʊəɹənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who acts to confound or obfuscate; an obscurantist.
  2. 2
    A person who seeks to prevent or hinder enquiry and the advancement of knowledge or wisdom; an agent of endarkenment.
  3. 3
    An opposer of lucidity and transparency in the political and intellectual spheres.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Acting or tending to confound, obfuscate, or obscure.
  2. 2
    Typical of or pertaining to obscurants; obscurantic; obscurantistic.

Etymology

Entering English circa 1793–1799: From German Obskurant and French obscurant, from classical Latin obscūrant-, stem of obscūrāns, present participle of obscūrāre (“to obscure”), from obscūrus (“dark”).

Related phrases

obscurans obscurantisobscurum per obscurius

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.