befogging
Making thoughts murky
Befogging is the act of making something cloudy, obscure, or difficult to understand.
The word comes from fog—to befog an issue is to surround it with confusion the way fog surrounds a landscape: His lengthy explanations only succeeded in befogging the matter further.
The term appears most often in discussions of rhetoric or reasoning, describing attempts to obscure rather than clarify.
Causing mental uncertainty
- bewilderingCausing utter confusion
- perplexingCausing mental confusion
- bafflingImpossible to understand
- disorientingCausing loss of direction
befuddling · muddling · addling · stupefying · dazing · discombobulating · flustering · unsettling
Making less distinct
- dimmingDecreasing in brightness
- hazingAbusive initiation practices
- obscuringMaking less visible
- veilingConcealing with covering
clouding · smearing · graying · shadowing · softening · diffusing · bleary · fuzzy
Causing false beliefs
- obfuscatingMaking unclear or confusing
- muddyingMaking less clear
- cloudingMaking less transparent
- distortingMisshaping or falsifying
confounding · misdirecting · smokescreen · dissembling · equivocating · hedging · evading · deflecting
Fine airborne moisture
- hazeMurky atmospheric suspension
- vaporGaseous form of liquid
- steamHeated water's gaseous form
- murkThick atmospheric darkness
cloud · smog · brume · condensation · overcast · pall · shroud · veil
Making less visible
- hidingStaying out of sight
- maskingConcealing by covering
- shroudingCovering to conceal
- veilingConcealing with covering
cloaking · screening · covering · obfuscating · camouflaging · disguising · burying · eclipsing
confusing
Causing mental uncertainty
- bewilderingCausing utter confusion
- perplexingCausing mental confusion
- bafflingImpossible to understand
disorienting · befuddling · muddling · addling · stupefying · dazing · discombobulating · flustering · unsettling · mystifying
blurring
Making less distinct
veiling · clouding · smearing · graying · shadowing · softening · diffusing · bleary · fuzzy · indistinct
misleading
Causing false beliefs
- obfuscatingMaking unclear or confusing
- muddyingMaking less clear
- cloudingMaking less transparent
distorting · confounding · misdirecting · smokescreen · dissembling · equivocating · hedging · evading · deflecting
mist
Fine airborne moisture
murk · cloud · smog · brume · condensation · overcast · pall · shroud · veil · obscuring
obscuring
Making less visible
veiling · cloaking · screening · covering · obfuscating · camouflaging · disguising · burying · eclipsing · overshadowing
befoggingclarifying
Making something understandable
elucidating · illuminating · explaining · clearing up · enlightening
befoggingclearing
Treeless space in forest
brightening · dispersing · lifting · dissipating · unveiling
fog, foggy, fogs, fogging, befog, fogginess, foggiest, defog, foggier