obfuscate

From the participle stem of Late Latin obfuscāre, from Latin ob- + fuscāre, present active infinitive of fuscō (“I darken”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒbfʌskeɪt/, /ˈɒbfəskeɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɑbfʌskeɪt/, /ˈɑbfəskeɪt/

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obfuscate (third-person singular simple present obfuscates, present participle obfuscating, simple past and past participle obfuscated)

1. To make dark; to overshadow.
2. To deliberately make more confusing in order to conceal the truth.

   obfuscate facts

   • 2018, Anonymous White House Official, "White House reels as FBI director contradicts official claims about alleged abuser," Washington Post, February 13, 2018:

     When asked if Kelly could have been more transparent or truthful, that official wrote: “In this White House, it’s simply not in our DNA. Truthful and transparent is great, but we don’t even have a coherent strategy to obfuscate.”

   Before leaving the scene, the murderer set a fire in order to obfuscate any evidence of their identity.

3. (computing) To alter code while preserving its behavior but concealing its structure and intent.

   We need to obfuscate these classes before we ship the final release.

• (to make dark): darken, eclipse, overshadow
• (to deliberately make more confusing): confuse, muddle, obscure

• (to deliberately make less confusing): explain, simplify

• obfuscatable
• unobfuscatable

• obfuscation
• obfuscatory
• obfuscous

obfuscate (comparative more obfuscate, superlative most obfuscate)

1. (obsolete) Obfuscated; darkened; obscured.
   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], OCLC 1026313858:

     Also the vertues beynge in a cruell persone be nat only obfuscate or hyd : But also lyke wyse as norysshynge meates and drynkes in an sycke body