Editing Obfuscation (section)

{{Short description|Intentionally confusing wording to confuse people apart from an intended audience}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
'''Obfuscation''' is the [[wikt:obscure#Verb|obscuring]] of the intended [[meaning (linguistics)|meaning]] of [[communication]] by making the message difficult to understand, usually with [[mental confusion|confusing]] and [[ambiguity|ambiguous]] language. The obfuscation might be either unintentional or [[intention|intentional]] (although intent usually is [[connotation|connoted]]), and is accomplished with [[circumlocution]] (talking around the subject), the use of [[jargon]] (technical language of a profession), and the use of an [[argot]] ([[ingroups and outgroups|ingroup]] language) of limited communicative value to outsiders.<ref>''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'', Tom McArthur, Ed., (1992) p. 543.</ref>

In [[expository writing]], unintentional obfuscation usually occurs in [[draft document]]s, at the beginning of [[composition (language)|composition]]; such obfuscation is illuminated with [[critical thinking]] and editorial revision, either by the writer or by an editor. Etymologically, the word ''obfuscation'' derives from the Latin {{lang|la| obfuscatio}}, from [[wikt:obfuscate#Etymology|''obfuscāre'' (to darken)]]; synonyms include the words [[wikt:beclouding|beclouding]] and [[wikt:abstrusity#Noun|abstrusity]].