obfuscate

obfuscate
    v 1: make obscure or unclear [ant: {clarify}, {clear up},
         {elucidate}]
    

Obfuscate \Ob*fus"cate\, a. [L. obfuscatus, p. p. of obfuscare
   to darken; ob (see {Ob-}) + fuscare, fuscatum, to darken,
   from fuscus dark.]
   Obfuscated; darkened; obscured. [Obs.] [Written also
   {offuscate}.] --Sir. T. Elyot.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Obfuscate \Ob*fus"cate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Obfuscated}; p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Obfuscating}.]
   1. To darken; to obscure; to becloud.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence: To confuse; to bewilder; to make unclear.
      [1913 Webster]

            His head, like a smokejack, the funnel unswept, and
            the ideas whirling round and round about in it, all
            obfuscated and darkened over with fuliginous matter.
                                                  --Sterne.
      [1913 Webster]

            Clouds of passion which might obfuscate the
            intellects of meaner females.         --Sir. W.
                                                  Scott.
      [1913 Webster]
    

85 Moby Thesaurus words for "obfuscate":
      adumbrate, becloud, bedarken, bedim, befog, begloom, black,
      black out, blacken, blanket, blind, block the light, blot out,
      blur, brown, camouflage, cast a shadow, cloak, cloud, cloud over,
      complicate, conceal, confuse, corrupt, cover, cover up, curtain,
      darken, darken over, deform, dim, dim out, disguise, disorder,
      dissemble, distort, distract attention from, eclipse, encloud,
      encompass with shadow, ensconce, enshroud, envelop, fog up, garble,
      gloom, gloss over, hide, jumble, keep under cover,
      make unintelligible, mask, mess up, misadvise, misdirect,
      miseducate, misguide, misinform, misinstruct, mislead, misteach,
      muddle, murk, mystify, obnubilate, obscure, obumbrate, occult,
      occultate, overcast, overcloud, overshadow, pervert, scramble,
      screen, shade, shadow, shroud, slur over, somber, unform, unshape,
      varnish, veil, whitewash