opaque
/əʊˈpeɪk/US/oʊˈpeɪk/
opaque adjective: neither reflecting nor emitting light.
Adjective
opaque (comparative more opaque or opaquer, superlative most opaque or opaquest)
- Neither reflecting nor emitting light.
- We have agreed that heat is energy to begin with. Light is also a form of energy for when absorbed by any opaque substance it turns completely into heat.1968, Isaac Asimov, Photosynthesis, Basic Books, Inc., page 60
- Allowing little light to pass through, not translucent or transparent.
- Unclear, unintelligible, hard to get or explain the meaning of.
- Obtuse, stupid.
- Describes a data 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.
Noun
opaque (plural opaques)
- An area of darkness; a place or region with no light.
- Through this opaque of Nature and of Soul, / This double night, transmit one pitying ray, / To lighten, and to cheer.1745, Edward Young, Night-Thoughts, section I
- Something which is opaque rather than translucent.
- They can be obtained in various thicknesses and in many colors, including beautiful imitations of pearl, mother-of-pearl, veins and mottles, stratifications, roll stratifications, imitation corals, and all colors of translucents, transparents and opaques, grained ivory, shell (plain and corrugated...1935 March, F. L. Nowosatka, “Making Colorful Modern Rings from Old Toothbrush Handles”, in Raymond J. Brown, editor, Popular Science Monthly, volume 126, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science...
Verb
opaque (third-person singular simple present opaques, present participle opaquing, simple past and past participle opaqued)
- To make, render (more) opaque.
opaque meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
opaque in Hindi
- अपारदर्शी, अपारदर्शक
opaque in Tamil
- ஒளி ஊடுருவாத, ஒளிவிடாத, தெளிவற்ற, மங்கிய, மழுங்கலான, ஒளிபுகாத
opaque in Marathi
- hindering light to pass through
- अपारदर्शक apārdarśak
opaque in Urdu
- دھندھلا, غیرشفاف, تاریک
More languagesFewer languages
- opaque in Telugu
- అపారదర్శకం, అపారదర్శకంగా
- opaque in Malayalam
- അതാര്യം
- opaque in Kannada
- ಬೆಳಕು ತಡೆಯುವ, ಆಚೆ ಕಾಣಿಸದ, ಆಚೆಗಾಣದ, ಮಬ್ಬಾದ
- opaque in Gujarati
- અપારદર્શક, અપારદર્શી
- opaque in Nepali
- अपारदर्शी, अपारदर्शक
- opaque in Arabic
- أَكْمَد ʔakmad
- opaque in Malay
- legap
- opaque in Thai
- ทึบแสง tʉ́p-sɛ̌ɛng
Examples of opaque in a sentence
- I could not penetrate Burke's opaque rhetoric.
- LLMs generate text using opaque algorithms that even their designers struggle to control.
- “One has to worry about opaque assets where there’s illiquidity,” he told Bloomberg in a separate interview.
Synonyms of opaque
Antonyms
Forms of opaque
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more opaque |
| comparative | opaquer |
| superlative | most opaque |
| superlative | opaquest |
| alternative form (obsolete) | opake |
| Noun | |
| plural | opaques |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | opaques |
| present participle | opaquing |
| past participle | opaqued |
| past | opaqued |
Origin of opaque
From Middle English opake, from Latin opacus (“shaded, shady, dark”) (of unknown origin), later reinforced from Middle French opaque. Doublet of ubac.
Words formed from opaque
Phrases with opaque
Words that rhyme with opaque
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- flake
- slake
- stake
- wake
- sheikh
- strake
- betake
- mosaic
- blake
- fake
- jake
- forsake
- lake
- mistake
- raik
- retake
- sake
- claik
- hake
- partake
- quake
- Spirit Lake
- steak
- ache
- remake
- spake
- tea break
- wrake
- ake
- alphamosaic
- ashake
- Choctaw Lake
- crake
- Deer Lake
- demake
- eastern green drake
- glass snake
- laik
- moonquake
- Mud Lake
- nake
- overtake
- parliament cake
- prison break
- radiopaque
- rattlesnake
- reshake
- sodaic
Questions about opaque
- What does opaque mean?
- Opaque means neither reflecting nor emitting light.
- What is opaque in Hindi?
- Opaque in Hindi is अपारदर्शी, अपारदर्शक. See Opaque meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is opaque?
- Opaque can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce opaque?
- Opaque is pronounced /əʊˈpeɪk/ (UK).
Words near opaque in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: opaque (page history and authors); opaque (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); opaque (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); opaque (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); opaque (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); opaque (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); opaque (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); opaque (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); opaque (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-opaque.wav.
Cite this entry: “opaque.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/opaque. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.