Obscure
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
Puzzling is a synonym for obscure in enigmatic topic. In some cases you can use "Puzzling" instead an adjective "Obscure", when it comes to topics like complex, abstruse, ambiguous, cryptic.
Puzzling
Puzzling adjective - Not clear to the understanding.
Obscure is a synonym for puzzling in ambiguous topic. You can use "Obscure" instead an adjective "Puzzling", if it concerns topics such as cryptic, contradictory, enigmatic, indecisive.
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
Both words in one sentence
- Going back to the 90s, the current-events trivia show The Challengers played a joke on the April 1, 1991 show, puzzling the contestants and host Dick Clark with very obscure subjects before revealing the joke on the video wall.
Source: April Fools' Day
Cite this Source
Puzzling and Obscure. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/obscure/puzzling
Obscure & Puzzling. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/obscure/puzzling>.
Puzzling or Obscure. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/obscure/puzzling.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "obscure" and "puzzling" have occurred on timeline