What's the difference between darken and obscure?

Darken


Definition:

  • (a.) To make dark or black; to deprive of light; to obscure; as, a darkened room.
  • (a.) To render dim; to deprive of vision.
  • (a.) To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.
  • (a.) To cast a gloom upon.
  • (a.) To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.
  • (v. i.) To grow or darker.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Immediate pigment darkening (IPD) occurs in human skin upon exposure to ultraviolet-A and visible radiation.
  • (2) There would never be a meeting in a darkened room where a winner was chosen just to fit an audience demographic or to create more entertaining telly.
  • (3) Each subject sat for 6 minutes in a darkened room and was told to memorize a list of words she heard form a tape.
  • (4) Normal, refractile spores were produced in each case; a portion of the barium spores lost refractility and darkened.
  • (5) Instead of coming to the bank, where we would be photographed coming in the front door, we were all to meet outside the McDonald's in Liverpool Street where we would be picked up in a people-carrier with darkened windows and driven in through the back of the bank.
  • (6) The final stage of germination was characterized by changes in the central spore region (core), notably phase darkening of the spore center and stainability with mercurochrome, and by a slight additional absorbancy decrease.
  • (7) Confluent patches of flat pigmentation appeared over the palpebral conjunctiva 18 weeks after the onset of treatment and showed progressive lateral enlargement and darkening.
  • (8) The 16 sites were qualitatively examined for evidence of resorption by either thinning or darkening of bone relative to the time immediately following surgery.
  • (9) Today's matches take place in a darkened hall within the stadium's towering walls, on the battlefields of multimillion-selling first-person shoot-'em-up Call of Duty .
  • (10) alpha-Melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) is a linear tridecapeptide (Ac-Ser-Tyr-Ser-Met-Glu-His-Phe-Arg-Trp-Gly-Lys-Pro-Val-NH2) that has diverse physiological functions in addition to its reversible darkening of amphibian skins by stimulating melanosome dispersion within melanophores.
  • (11) 1) Asphyxia induced marked body colour darkening and bradycardia.
  • (12) The most striking feature of such neurons was darkening of their dendrites associated with abnormally high density cytoplasm that contained mitochondria with disrupted cristae.
  • (13) Braving darkening skies, they were initially in an upbeat mood, belting out the samba rhythm of carnival classic I'm Going to Celebrate.
  • (14) With official unemployment data today expected to show a further rise in the long-term unemployed, the TUC argues young people were some of the worst affected by Britain's deep recession and their outlook could darken further as public sector job losses intensify.
  • (15) beta-Adrenoceptor blocking agents, in contrast, inhibit catecholamine-induced darkening but have no effect on MSH-induced darkening.
  • (16) During the hibernation period, the epiphyseal catecholamine charge is well detected in the garden dormouse; it appears more important in darkened animals at 22 degrees C and much less in animals under continuous lighting.
  • (17) Melanocyte stimulating hormone-induced darkening or dispersion of the granules was reversed by each of these metabolites.
  • (18) Reactivation of the enzyme extracted from darkened leaves was achieved simply by adding a thiol compound.
  • (19) By analyzing the synaptic relationships of such "darkened" dendrites, connections in the upper dorsal horn can be deciphered.
  • (20) The specific activity of the light enzyme was consistently about twice that of the dark form when assayed at suboptimal (but physiological) pH (pH 7.0-7.3), and the former was also less sensitive to feedback inhibition by L-malate than that from darkened leaves under various conditions.

Obscure


Definition:

  • (superl.) Covered over, shaded, or darkened; destitute of light; imperfectly illuminated; dusky; dim.
  • (superl.) Of or pertaining to darkness or night; inconspicuous to the sight; indistinctly seen; hidden; retired; remote from observation; unnoticed.
  • (superl.) Not noticeable; humble; mean.
  • (superl.) Not easily understood; not clear or legible; abstruse or blind; as, an obscure passage or inscription.
  • (superl.) Not clear, full, or distinct; clouded; imperfect; as, an obscure view of remote objects.
  • (a.) To render obscure; to darken; to make dim; to keep in the dark; to hide; to make less visible, intelligible, legible, glorious, beautiful, or illustrious.
  • (v. i.) To conceal one's self; to hide; to keep dark.
  • (n.) Obscurity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This diagnosis was obscured by the absence of cutaneous, oropharyngeal, and respiratory involvement.
  • (2) The mechanism of ACTH action on brain catecholamine metabolism is still obscure, however, an increased release of the NA to ACTH peptides is very likely in the light of the present observations.
  • (3) However, peptide bonds between 193 and 194, and 194 and 195 were cleaved in the presence of mAb 1C3 as easily as in the presence of mAb 31A4, suggesting that the region of residues 200 to 202 was obscured by, or within the antibody binding site, but that the region of residues 193 to 195 was not.
  • (4) The physician's approach to the differential diagnosis of obscure, atypical pneumonias has changed.
  • (5) The thigh and hip manifestations can obscure the primary intra-abdominal process either due to the obvious emphysema or to the obtunded abdominal signs secondary to associated neuropathy.
  • (6) While tonic pupil and reduced sweating can be attributed to the affection of postganglionic cholinergic parasympathetic and sympathetic fibres projecting to the iris and sweat glands, respectively, the pathogenesis of diminished or lost tendon jerks remains obscure.
  • (7) It is found that generic averages obscure some rather substantial differences at the species level for both Cercopithecus and Cercocebus.
  • (8) Although the pathophysiology of the pancreatic injury is obscure, the lack of other etiological factors and temporal association of the pancreatitis with acetaminophen-induced hepatic and renal toxicity suggest a causal relationship.
  • (9) Because reticulocytes contain a pool of uncombined alpha chains which might have obscured the demonstration of an alpha chain-dependent mechanism for beta-chain synthesis, subsequent studies were done with bone marrow cells.
  • (10) However, the mechanism by which Ag II is able to modulate anterior pituitary secretion still remains obscure.
  • (11) Other causes were 20 (13%) with cerebrovascular diseases, 30 (20%) hepatic failure and 11 (8%) were of miscellaneous and obscure causes.
  • (12) In such a case with a large hematoma, the presence of a tumor may be obscured on CT scan and angiography.
  • (13) However, the difficulty still remains that the latter may be obscured by differences not related to thermostability etc.
  • (14) The activating mechanism of the condition still remains obscure.
  • (15) Its language is “archaic and obscure”, the commission says.
  • (16) Clofibrate, an antilipidemic drug that acts by a still obscure mechanism, is known to specifically increase up to 30-fold the activity of the hepatic cytochrome P-450 isozyme that omega-hydroxlates lauric acid.
  • (17) On the electron microscopy, the sarcomere was shortened and Z-line was partly obscure.
  • (18) Photographs of 82 boys from the Harpenden Growth Study were measured at ages 5 to 18 years, in an order that obscured which photographs were of the same boy at different ages.
  • (19) Although the K+ concentration of the contents of the GI tract as well as the K+ transport by the portal vein were increased, the source of the excess K+ remains obscure.
  • (20) The effects of long-term exposure of humans to formaldehyde, however, are more obscure.