Mysterious and Obscure

Similar meaning words

Mysterious adjective - Being beyond one's powers to know, understand, or explain.

Usage example: the huge stone statues on Easter Island are ancient, mysterious, and haunting

Show all Definitions

Obscure is a synonym for mysterious in secret topic. In some cases you can use "Obscure" instead the word "Mysterious" as an adjective or a verb, when it comes to topics like puzzling, enigmatic, illegible, strange.

Nearby Words: mystery, mysteriously

Obscure adjective - Having an often intentionally veiled or uncertain meaning.

Usage example: a fantasy writer who likes to put lots of obscure references and images in her tales of wizards and warlocks

Show all Definitions

Mysterious is a synonym for obscure in unclear topic. You can use "Mysterious" instead an adjective "Obscure", if it concerns topics such as abstruse, enigmatic, mystical, illegible.

Phileas Fogg's background is mysterious and obscure, or foggy.

Source: Literature / Around the World in 80 Days
Cow Tools are similar to Noodle Implements in that they both invite speculation; the difference is that the former are completely obscure while the latter are ordinary in and of themselves but have a mysterious and unexplained connection to some event.

Source: Cow Tools
Obviously this doesn't apply to characters who die in some mysterious semi-obscure way in the opening seconds of a show, then go on to be the subject of inquiry, flashbacks and a thorough autopsy.

Source: Teaser-Only Character

Cite this Source

Obscure and Mysterious. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/mysterious/obscure

Mysterious & Obscure. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/mysterious/obscure>.

Obscure or Mysterious. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/mysterious/obscure.

Google Ngram Viewer shows how "mysterious" and "obscure" have occurred on timeline