opaque

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• opake

Etymology

From Middle English opake, from Latin opacus (“shaded, shady, dark”) (of unknown origin), later reinforced from Middle French opaque.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /əʊˈpeɪk/
• (US) IPA: /oʊˈpeɪk/
• Rhymes: -eɪk

Adjective

opaque (comparative more opaque, superlative most opaque)

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.

Translations

hindering light to pass through

• Catalan: opac (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不透明 (cmn) (bù tòumíng)

• Czech: neprůhledný (cs) m
• Dutch: opaak (nl), ondoorschijnend (nl), ondoorzichtig (nl)
• Finnish: läpinäkymätön (fi), läpikuultamaton (fi)
• French: opaque (fr) m and f
• German: undurchsichtig (de), opak (de)
• Greek: αδιαφανής (el) (adiafanís)
• Icelandic: ógagnsær (is)
• Italian: opaco (it) m, opaca (it) f

• Japanese: 不透明な (ja) (ふとうめいな, futōmei-na)
• Malay: legap (ms)
• Norwegian: opak (no), ugjennomsiktig (no), ugjennomskinnelig (no)
• Portuguese: opaco (pt) m
• Romanian: netransparent (ro), opac (ro)
• Russian: матовый (ru) (mátovyj), непрозрачный (ru) (neprozráčnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: neproziran (sh) m, neprozirno (sh), neprogledno (sh), neprovidno (sh)
• Spanish: opaco (es) m
• Swedish: ogenomskinlig (sv)
• Turkish: mat (tr), opak (tr)

Related terms

• opacity
• opaquely
• opaqueness

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

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔ.pak/, X-SAMPA: /O.pak/

Etymology

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

Adjective

opaque (masculine and feminine, plural opaques)

1. opaque

References

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

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Middle French

Adjective

opaque m and f (plural opaques)

1. opaque