Obscurantism

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A state of opposition to human progress or enlightenment. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    a deliberate act intended to make something obscure wordnet
  3. 3
    Deliberate obscurity or vagueness. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    a policy of opposition to enlightenment or the spread of knowledge wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
agnosticismcasuistrycircularitycorruptiondarkdarkness

Example

More examples

"Now that idealistic obscurantism has become a major "theoretical" means for the warmongers, Lenin's critique of the bourgeois philosophy of the early twentieth century has acquired particular relevance."

Etymology

From Latin obscūrans, from obscūrō (“to cover, darken, obscure”) + -ism.

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