obfuscation
obfuscation — noun
- obfuscationsingular
- obfuscationsplural
1. the practice of deliberately making language, information, or meaning difficult
the practice of deliberately making language, information, or meaning difficult to understand, so that the real message or intention stays hidden
The lawyer's obfuscation of the contract terms left Chiara unsure what she was signing.
pattern: obfuscation + of + [thing made unclear]
Mira grew frustrated with the company's obfuscation about where her personal data was stored.
pattern: obfuscation + about + [topic]
The committee report was a masterpiece of obfuscation — nobody could tell what it actually recommended.
Hyun accused the minister of deliberate obfuscation after three straight questions went unanswered.
What sounded like expert analysis was really just obfuscation dressed up in long words.
- confusion
can be accidental; obfuscation is nearly always deliberate
- obscurity
describes a state of being unclear, not the act of making something unclear
- evasiveness
specifically about avoiding direct answers, while obfuscation is broader
- clarity
the quality of being easy to understand
- transparency
openness and honesty — the opposite of deliberate hiding
文法句型
obfuscation of [something]
obfuscation about [something]
deliberate obfuscation
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 2 (CONFUSING SEARCH ENGINES) and sense 3 (HIDING COMPUTER CODE) — this is the general meaning, used whenever someone makes language or meaning unclear on purpose.
常見錯誤
2. a method of protecting online privacy by flooding the internet with false or mis
a method of protecting online privacy by flooding the internet with false or misleading data, so that search engines cannot build an accurate profile of who you are
Henry installed a browser extension that uses obfuscation to stop advertisers from tracking his search history.
obfuscation as a privacy-protection technique
The app's obfuscation feature fills your search log with random queries to confuse profiling algorithms.
Hoa explained that data obfuscation works by hiding real activity inside a cloud of fake clicks.
Without search-engine obfuscation, every website you visit becomes part of your permanent digital record.
Defne used obfuscation software to hide her browsing habits from her internet provider.
- data masking
a related technique that hides specific data fields rather than flooding the network with false information
文法句型
data obfuscation
obfuscation of [data/activity]
obfuscation layer
用法筆記
Specific to online privacy and data protection. The subject is usually a piece of software, a browser extension, or a privacy technique.
常見錯誤
3. the technique of rewriting computer code so that it still works but is nearly im
the technique of rewriting computer code so that it still works but is nearly impossible for a human to read, used to protect software from being copied or understood
The company ran every software update through an obfuscation program before sending it to customers.
collocation: obfuscation program
João spent the afternoon reversing the obfuscation on a suspicious file he had downloaded.
collocation: reversing + obfuscation
After obfuscation, the function that checked passwords became a single line of unreadable symbols.
Devika's team used obfuscation to protect their game engine from being copied by rival studios.
The malware hid from antivirus scans by wrapping its commands in layer after layer of obfuscation.
- minification
reduces code size for faster loading — minification is easily reversible, while obfuscation is designed to be hard to reverse
文法句型
code obfuscation
obfuscation of [code/software]
obfuscation program
用法筆記
Specific to computer programming. The subject is typically a developer, a software company, or a programming tool. Obfuscation hides logic; it does not make code run faster.