English

Alternative forms

• opake (obsolete)

Adjective

opaque ‎(comparative more opaque or opaquer, superlative most opaque or opaquest) (see usage notes)

1. Neither reflecting nor emitting light.
2. Allowing little light to pass through, not translucent or transparent.
3. (figuratively) Unclear, unintelligible, hard to get or explain the meaning of
4. (figuratively) Obtuse, stupid.
5. (computing) Describes a type for which higher-level callers have no knowledge of data values or their representations; all operations are carried out by the type's defined abstract operators.

Antonyms

• (physically): see-through, translucent, transparent
• (figuratively): clear, obvious, bright, brilliant

Usage notes

• The comparative opaquer and superlative opaquest, though formed following valid rules for English, are much less common than more opaque and most opaque and seem to occur more frequently in poetry.
• Most opaque has been more common than opaquest for at least two centuries and 50 to 100 times more common in the last two decades, according to this Google Ngram comparison.

Derived terms

• opaquely
• opaqueness
• radiopaque

Related terms

• opacity

Translations

Noun

opaque ‎(plural opaques)

1. (obsolete, poetic) An area of darkness; a place or region with no light.
   • 1745, Edward Young, Night-Thoughts, I:

     Through this opaque of Nature and of Soul, / This double night, transmit one pitying ray, / To lighten, and to cheer.

2. Something which is opaque rather than translucent.

Verb

opaque ‎(third-person singular simple present opaques, present participle opaquing, simple past and past participle opaqued)

1. (transitive) To make, render (more) opaque.

Synonyms

• blur
• cloud

See also

• translucent

References

• “opaque” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.pak/

Etymology

From Latin opacus 'shaded, shady, dark', itself of unknown origin.

Adjective

opaque m, f ‎(plural opaques)

1. opaque

References

• “opaque” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Adjective

opaque m, f ‎(plural opaques)

1. opaque

Spanish

Verb

opaque

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of opacar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of opacar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of opacar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of opacar.