Explain
Explain verb - To make plain or understandable.
Usage example: a pamphlet that explains the medical procedure in language that any layperson can understand
Obscure
Obscure verb - To keep secret or shut off from view.
Common collocations
| truth | explain truth | obscure truth |
| relationship | explain relationship | obscure relationship |
| nature | explain nature | obscure nature |
| presence | explain presence | obscure presence |
| Other words: appearance, fact, hair, actions, disappearance, origins, references. | ||
Both words in one sentence
- But instead of going to Morlond, Sabbat takes a detour to an obscure, worthless planet on the Crusade's second front called Herodor, and neither Gaunt nor anyone else can explain why.
Source: The Day of Reckoning - This one, however, makes use of such an obscure, outdated word that some of the characters have to explain to the others what in the world she was talking about.
- His later stories have substantial Notes sections that explain the more obscure allusions, among other things.
Source: Shown Their Work / Fanfiction
Cite this Source
Obscure and Explain. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/explain/obscure
Explain & Obscure. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/explain/obscure>.
Obscure or Explain. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/explain/obscure.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "explain" and "obscure" have occurred on timeline