The Collaborative International Dictionary
Obscurant \Ob*scur"ant\, n. [L. obscurans, p. pr. of obscurare
to obscure.]
One who obscures; one who prevents enlightenment or hinders
the progress of knowledge and wisdom.
--Coleridge.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1878, from Latin obscurantem (nominative obscurans), present participle of obscurare (see obscure (v.)).
Wiktionary
a. 1 Acting or tending to confound, obfuscate, or obscure. 2 Typical of or pertaining to #Noun; obscurantic; obscurantistic. n. 1 One who acts to confound or obfuscate; an obscurantist. 2 A person who seeks to prevent or hinder enquiry and the advancement of knowledge or wisdom; an agent of endarkenment. 3 An opposer of lucidity and transparency in the political and intellectual spheres.
WordNet
adj. making undecipherable or imperceptible; "obliterating mists"; "an obscurant bank of clouds" [syn: obliterating]
Usage examples of "obscurant".
It was on the far side of the core of the galaxy humans lived in, the one they called the Milky Way, and observation through the masses of gas clouds and dust and stars and other highly obscurant things was almost as difficult for Wan-To as it was for human beings.
As the writer became more insistent his obscurant terminology fell away like an acquired accent, until he seemed to be holding off Anglo-Saxon monosyllables with an effort.