Standard Lemma guide

befog

verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒɡ

1

verb

Meaning 1

To envelop in fog or smoke.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1953, Jean Stafford, “Cops and Robbers” (original title: “The Shorn Lamb”) in The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford, New York: Dutton, 1984, p. 432, Sad, in her covert, Hannah saw that her mother was now sitting straight against the headboard and was smoking a cigarette in long, meditative puffs; the smoke befogged her frowning forehead.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To confuse, mystify (a person); to make less acute or perceptive, to cloud (a person’s faculties).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1871, Carl Schurz, Speech in the U.S. Senate, 27 January, 1871, in Frederic Bancroft (ed.), Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, New York: Putnam, 1913, Volume II, p. 151, The voice of interested sycophancy is apt to fill their ears and to befog their judgment.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To obscure, make less clear (a subject, issue, etc.).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

make less visible or unclear

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The stars are obscured by the clouds
  • the big elm tree obscures our view of the valley

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: obscure, becloud, obnubilate, haze over, fog, cloud, mist

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hide, conceal

Narrower terms: overshadow

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h1ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h1épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h1epider. Proto-Indo-European *h1pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Old English be- Middle English bi- English be- English fog English befog From be- + fog.