opaque
/ə(ʊ)ˈpeɪk
/adjective (opaquer, opaquest)
1Not able to be seen through; not transparent: bottles filled with a pale opaque liquid...
- These consist of arrays of pixels, each made of a material that varies from being transparent to opaque depending on the size of the electrical voltage you apply to it.
- Brookite is a transparent to opaque mineral that occurs in various shades of red- and yellow-brown through dark brown to black.
- Males immediately began displaying to one another through the transparent partition after the opaque partition was removed.
Synonyms
non-transparent, cloudy, filmy, blurred, smeared, hazy, misty, dirty, dingy, muddy, muddied, grimy, smeary
1.1(Especially of language) hard or impossible to understand: technical jargon that was opaque to her...
- The logical chain leading from recovery from illness to an understanding of the animals' language is similarly opaque.
- Derrida neglected to discuss alternatives except in language so opaque it is impossible to decipher.
- But his tendency towards dull speeches, opaque language and meandering responses to questions almost undid him.
Synonyms
obscure, unclear, dense, uncertain, indeterminate, mysterious, puzzling, perplexing, baffling, mystifying, confusing, enigmatic, inexplicable, unexplained, concealed, hidden, unfathomable, incomprehensible, impenetrable, vague, ambiguous, Delphic, indefinite, indistinct, hazy, foggy, nebulous, equivocal, doubtful, dubious, oblique, elliptical, oracular, cryptic, deep, abstruse, recondite, arcane, esoteric, recherché
informal as clear as mud
noun
1An opaque thing.To be honest, it's a relief when summer is over and we can get back into good old black opaques, which cover a multitude of shortcomings....
- And to think that we used to spend the dark winter months hibernating our legs away in a cocoon of black opaques!
- A clear liquid that instantly and permanently repairs sheer hosiery, pantyhose, tights, opaques, knee-highs, and socks, it's much more efficient than the old nail-polish fix your mom taught you.
1.1 [mass noun] Photography A substance for producing opaque areas on negatives.
Derivatives
opaquely
/ adverb ...- A critical aspect in the genderedness of CGI technology is the nature of the language that opaquely shapes technology: programming languages.
- The days when the markets automatically awarded premiums to politically connected but opaquely run family and state-controlled conglomerates are ending.
- They favour tiny miniskirts and opaquely opalescent tights, and have the ice-eyed look of Natashas and Laras who might at the drop of a dollar give a man more trouble than he could conceivably imagine.
opaqueness
/ noun ...- The universe is complicated enough without our creating even more, and unnecessary, obscurity, obscurantism, and opaqueness, and please, do not confuse relativism with relativity.
- Gather a group of horse-dealers at an auction and you would be disappointed if there were not some complexity and opaqueness.
- What followed adds to the complexity and opaqueness of the overall picture.
Origin
Late Middle English opake, from Latin opacus 'darkened'. The current spelling (rare before the 19th century) has been influenced by the French form.
Rhymes
- peripheralisation
- peripheralise
- peripheralism
- peripheralist
- peripherality
- peripheralization
- peripheralize
- peripherally
- peripheral nerve
- peripheral nervous system
- in the middle of
- in the name of
- in the nature of
- in the nature of things
- in the neighbourhood of
- in the nick of time
- in the nip
- in the nude
- in the offing
- in the ordinary way
- in the (or in no) mood for/to do something
- in the (or one's) road
- in the (or one's) way
- in theory
- in the pay of