Link Centre Dictionary

obnubilate

ob·nu·bi·late

UK/ɒbˈnjuːbɪleɪt/ uncommon obsolete

verb

1.

make less visible or unclear

  • “The stars are obscured by the clouds”
2.

make unclear, indistinct, or blurred

  • “Her remarks confused the debate”
  • “Their words obnubilate their intentions”

Origin

Borrowed from Latin obnūbilātus, perfect passive participle of obnūbilō (“to cover with clouds or fog”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ob- + nūbilō (“be cloudy”), from nūbēs (“cloud”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ- (“to cover”). By surface analysis, ob- + Latin nubil- + -ate.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.