Clarity/Lack of clarity Flashcards
Arcane, arcaneness, arcanely.
Understood by few, mysterious or secret.
“This book examines the arcane practices of the Freemasons.”
“Arcane procedures for electing people.”
Abstruse, abstruseness, abstrusely.
Difficult to understand, more complicated than necessary.
“An abstruse philosophical inquiry.”
“Still, this is a Frank Black album, with its obscure references and abstruse lyrics.”
Esoteric, esotericism,an esotericist, esoterically.
Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.
“Esoteric philosophical debates.”
Inscrutable, inscrutableness, inscrutably.
Incomprehensible, mysterious, enigmatic.
“An inscrutable and incomparably powerful force permeates the Universe and binds it together.”
To obscure something, obscurity, obscure, obscurely.
To make something difficult to understand.
Unclear, ambiguous.
“We understand that anti-Semitism obscures the reality of what it is to be a Jew, and has enabled atrocities great and small to be committed upon the Jewish people.”
Recondite.
Of a subject or knowledge: Little known, abstruse.
“The book is full of recondite information.”
“His accompanying text may not answer every question on this recondite subject.”
Turbid, turbidity, turbidly.
Obscure in meaning or effect; of a liquid: cloudy, with sediments stirred up.
“Cloudy or turbid water can quickly clog a filter and shorten the life of the unit.”
Diffuse.
Lacking clarity.
“The second argument is more diffuse.”
Opaque.
Especially of language: Hard to understand.
“He used technical jargon that was opaque to her.”
Rarefied.
Distant from the lives and concerns of ordinary people, esoteric.
“She grew up in a rarefied world of private girls’ schools and arranged marriages.”
Coherent.
Of an argument, theory: logical and consistent; of a person: able to speak clearly and logically.
“They failed to develop a coherent economic strategy.”
“She was lucid and coherent and did not appear to be injured.”
Comprehensible, comprehensibility, comprehensibly.
Understandable, intelligible.
“Clear and comprehensible English.”
Explicit, explicitness, explicitly.
Stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt; of a person: stating something in an explicit manner.
“To ensure consistency, several definitions were made explicit before data entry began.”
“Let me be explicit.”
Limpid, limpidity, limpidly.
Of a liquid: clear and transparent; intelligible.
“He writes in a limpid style.”
Lucid, lucidity, lucidly.
Expressed clearly, easy to understand; of a person: having the ability to think clearly.
“It’s written in very concrete language, very lucid, easy to understand.”
Pellucid, pellucidity, pellucidly.
Easily understood, lucid; transparent, translucent.
“He writes, as always, in pellucid prose.”
“Mountains reflected in the pellucid waters.”
Perspicuous, perspicuity, perspicuously.
Clearly expressed and easily understood, lucid.
“It provides simpler and more perspicuous explanations than its rivals.”
Unequivocal, unequivocalness, unequivocally.
Leaving no doubt; unambiguous.
“An unequivocal answer.”
Unambiguous, unambiguity, unambiguously.
Leaving no doubt; unambiguous.
“Instructions should be unambiguous.”
Plain, plainness, plain (adverb).
Easy to understand; clearly expressed, without abstruse terms.
“An insurance policy written in plain English.”
“The advantages were plain to see.”
“I’m finished with you, I’ll tell you plain.”
Inconspicuous, inconspicuousness, inconspicuously.
Not easily noticed or seen; not prominent or striking.
“An inconspicuous red-brick building.”
To fathom something or someone, a fathom, fathomable, unfathomable.
To understand a difficult problem or an enigmatic person after much thought; to measure the depth of water.
Noun: A unit of length.
Adjective: Immeasurable, incapable of being understood.
“He couldn’t fathom why she was being so anxious.”
“An attempt to fathom the ocean.”
To adumbrate something, adumbration, adumbrative.
To outline, give a faint indication of something; to foreshadow a future event; to oversahdow something.
“Hobhouse had already adumbrated the idea of a welfare state.”
“Tenors solemnly adumbrate the fate of the convicted sinner.”
“Her happy reminiscences were adumbrated by consciousness of something else.”
