(n.) The act of darkening or bewildering; the state of being darkened.
Example Sentences:
(1) Serving on the government's Renewables Advisory Board from 2003 to 2006, I witnessed what cynics could easily have mistaken for a deliberate campaign of delay, obfuscation, and the parking, if not torpedoing, of good ideas coming from industry members of the board."
(2) This obfuscates insight into the role of DCIS in the development of invasive cancer of the breast.
(3) It seemed to me watching the film that the concept of the cloud was another great piece of airy obfuscation on the part of the internet corporations, who like to peddle the childlike and the playful in the way that banks used to flog you credit cards called Smile and Egg and Marbles and Goldfish, to encourage you not to think too hard about the small print (what could possibly go wrong?).
(4) The issues related to breast-feeding and problems of the puerperium are often obfuscated by the general but outdated practice of recommending cessation of lactation.
(5) Manafort says such allegations are “pure obfuscation” and that there are no ties between the Trump campaign and the regime of Vladimir Putin.
(6) Putin is a cunning negotiator with the skills of a KGB colonel, varying between brute force, charm and obfuscation.
(7) Child poverty is, if it means anything after all this obfuscation, a lack of resources.
(8) There were euphemisms (“an incident”, “an inappropriate action on my part”); there were vague and reassuring references to the woman (“she has accepted my apology”); and there were mind-your-own-business obfuscations (“a deeply personal business”).
(9) This new party’s swelling ranks want no more of the old politics, no more caution and obfuscation, no more talking tough while sneaking in good by stealth.
(10) The failure of William Hague to contact the family directly after Abbas's sudden disappearance in Syria is a terrible obfuscation of duty, but Sayeeda Warsi's telephone call to his mother in which she asserts that Fatima should be happy that she had returned her call but there was nothing the government could do is staggering in its lack of humanity.
(11) On Thursday, what was left of the obfuscation and denial was swept aside by Sir Peter Gibson, a retired appeal court judge.
(12) Likewise Jacques Anouma, whom the Sunday Times this month accused under parliamentary privilege of receiving $1.5m in bribes from the Qatar World Cup bid – which he denies – faces accusations in his homeland of obfuscation.
(13) Suspicion about politicians’ motives is compounded by the strong view that the media seek to obfuscate rather than clarify.
(14) At times it has obfuscated its message on the bailout but Syriza's most impressive sleight of hand has been its attempt to appeal to incompatible constituencies.
(15) In his rebuttal, he said that they were the "usual tired obfuscation and generalisation".
(16) MPs have condemned the "collective amnesia" and "deliberate obfuscation" by the News of the World in giving evidence to the Commons select committee inquiry into illegal phone hacking.
(17) Stop obfuscating, David Cameron: we need transparency now | Wes Streeting Read more He added: “If these leaks reveal that EU law has been broken, or loopholes in our legislation have been highlighted, the commission will take, of course, appropriate action immediately.” Moscovici, a former French finance minister who has been leading EU efforts on tax transparency, urged member states to throw their support behind his plans for a blacklist of tax havens – an idea dismissed last year by UK officials.
(18) The committee said it had "repeatedly encountered an unwillingness to provide the detailed information that we sought, claims of ignorance or lack of recall and deliberate obfuscation".
(19) That's the precise opposite of the cover-up, obfuscate-and-deny culture that served News International so balefully through the years of hacking denial.
(20) The committee accused the commissioner of "confusion and obfuscation" about how much information it holds on which public figures have been targeted by journalists and investigators trying to obtain information illegally.
Obscurantism
Definition:
(n.) The system or the principles of the obscurants.
Example Sentences:
(1) The notions of holism and ecology seem to suffer from obscurantism and esoteric elitism, though commendable in their scope.
(2) "They have forgotten that it is the people who grant the powers and not the emirs of obscurantism and sand," the paper said, referring to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
(3) Magico-religious rituals of healing are still around, but some have been replaced by pseudo-scientific systems, thinly disguising old superstitions in new obscurantism, more appealing to the half-educated.
(4) The night of medieval obscurantism had descended on Afghanistan.
(5) This lack of definition makes it no easy place to write about, and the challenge has reduced many an otherwise intelligent observer to the comforts of obscurantism and polemic.
(6) The government was knocked for six initially and then responded with characteristic bureaucratic obscurantism.