_Notwithstanding_ simply states that circumstances shall not be or have not been allowed to withstand; _despite_ and _in spite of_ refer primarily to personal and perhaps spiteful opposition; as, he failed _notwithstanding_ his good intentions; or, he persevered _in spite of_ the most bitter hostility. When _despite_ and _in spite of_ are applied to inanimate things, it is with something of personification; "_in spite of_ the storm" is said as if the storm had a hostile purpose to oppose the undertaking.
adjuration, curse, profane swearing, affidavit, cursing, profanity, anathema, denunciation, reprobation, ban, execration, swearing, blaspheming, imprecation, sworn statement. blasphemy, malediction, vow.
In the highest sense, as in a court of justice, "an _oath_ is a reverent appeal to God in corroboration of what one says," ABBOTT _Law Dict._; an _affidavit_ is a _sworn statement_ made in writing in the presence of a competent officer; an _adjuration_ is a solemn appeal to a person in the name of God to speak the truth. An _oath_ is made to man in the name of God; a _vow_, to God without the intervention, often without the knowledge, of man. In the lower sense, an _oath_ may be mere _blasphemy_ or _profane swearing_. _Anathema_, _curse_, _execration_, and _imprecation_ are modes of invoking vengeance or retribution from a superhuman power upon the person against whom they are uttered. _Anathema_ is a solemn ecclesiastical condemnation of a person or of a proposition. _Curse_ may be just and authoritative; as, the _curse_ of God; or, it may be wanton and powerless: "so the _curse_ causeless shall not come," _Prov._ xxvi, 2. _Execration_ expresses most of personal bitterness and hatred; _imprecation_ refers especially to the coming of the desired evil upon the person against whom it is uttered. _Malediction_ is a general wish of evil, a less usual but very expressive word. Compare TESTIMONY.
abstruse, darksome, dusky, involved, ambiguous, deep, enigmatical, muddy, cloudy, dense, hidden, mysterious, complex, difficult, incomprehensible, profound, complicated, dim, indistinct, turbid, dark, doubtful, intricate, unintelligible.
That is _obscure_ which the eye or the mind can not clearly discern or see through, whether because of its own want of transparency, its depth or intricacy, or because of mere defect of light. That which is _complicated_ is likely to be _obscure_, but that may be _obscure_ which is not at all _complicated_ and scarcely _complex_, as a _muddy_ pool. In that which is _abstruse_ (L. _abs_, from, and _trudo_, push) as if removed from the usual course of thought or out of the way of apprehension or discovery, the thought is remote, _hidden_; in that which is _obscure_ there may be nothing to hide; it is hard to see to the bottom of the _profound_, because of its depth, but the most shallow turbidness is _obscure_. Compare COMPLEX; DARK; DIFFICULT; MYSTERIOUS.