What's the difference between mystery and obscure?
Mystery
Definition:
(a.) A profound secret; something wholly unknown, or something kept cautiously concealed, and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder; something which has not been or can not be explained; hence, specifically, that which is beyond human comprehension.
(a.) A kind of secret religious celebration, to which none were admitted except those who had been initiated by certain preparatory ceremonies; -- usually plural; as, the Eleusinian mysteries.
(a.) The consecrated elements in the eucharist.
(a.) Anything artfully made difficult; an enigma.
(n.) A trade; a handicraft; hence, any business with which one is usually occupied.
(n.) A dramatic representation of a Scriptural subject, often some event in the life of Christ; a dramatic composition of this character; as, the Chester Mysteries, consisting of dramas acted by various craft associations in that city in the early part of the 14th century.
Example Sentences:
(1) Ofcom will conduct research, such as mystery shopping, to assess the transparency of contractual information given to customers by providers at the point of sale".
(2) Totò was a legend in the Vesuvian city – a comedian of genius; poignant, mysterious.
(3) And that ancient Basque cultural gem – the mysterious language with its odd Xs, Ks and Ts – will be honoured at every turn in a city where it was forbidden by Franco.
(4) The etiology of the panvasculitis still remains a mystery.
(5) Meeting after meeting during 2011 to try to hammer out agreements about the basic shape of the Egyptian constitution – meetings that always mysteriously collapsed.
(6) Director Gareth Edwards , who made Godzilla, introduced a tantalizing concept reel to preview the mysterious film, which is part of a series of films exploring other stories outside of the core Star Wars saga.
(7) In EastEnders , the mystery surrounding the identity of Kat's secret squeeze continues amid the grinding of narrative levers and the death rattle of overflogged script-horses.
(8) The exact purpose of the complex is a mystery, though it is clearly ancient.
(9) Of course, the great British countryside was never as twee as that – a point made forcibly by the second album from mysterious electronic collective Hacker Farm .
(10) Askap will also help astronomers investigate one of the greatest mysteries of the universe: dark energy.
(11) Dickens's last completed novel, Our Mutual Friend , has a mysterious hero, John Rokesmith, who turns out to be someone different from the person we were told he was.
(12) Where once Gaga was mysterious and her music unavoidable, the mystique has evaporated and the music easy to miss.
(13) "How these union bosses get elected, how they raise money, how they disperse money is a complete and utter mystery.
(14) Despite extensive research, the aetiology of this infectious disease which affects mainly infants and young children remains mysterious.
(15) Death in utero (or immediately following birth) of children of diabetic mothers remains rather mysterious.
(16) Now trapped in an occupied city, she takes on a job as a housekeeper to mysterious bachelor Gabriel Ortega.
(17) In response to a question from the host, Jake Tapper, about allegations that the Russian ambassador “is a spy”, Rubio said: “It is not a mystery to anyone that virtually every embassy in Washington DC has some intelligence component associated with it.” Fact check: what did Trump's tweets about Obama's 'wiretaps' mean?
(18) Since then, his whereabouts have been a mystery, but this week his brother told Associated Press that he had received new and disturbing information from one of the policemen who took Gao away.
(19) Yet elsewhere in Syria, the strikes against Isis opened what US officials indicate as an opportunity to strike a mysterious al-Qaida cell in Syria believed to have been in the advanced stages for bomb attacks against US or western targets.
(20) How Balls achieves his £1.2bn from a mansion tax is a mystery.
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.