Clarity?

I was reading something and the author complained about "obscuration". I had a sense of what that might mean, but to be sure I looked it up. I looked on the internet since that was where I was, but I could not find a definition. I Googled the word and found some pages that claimed to contain the word, but I couldn't find it in the pages or what it might mean. I finally got out the big dictionary and found it and that it means "the act of obscuring or the quality or state of being obscure." So, in this case, the word seems to mean the thing that it does. Which made me wonder, why use such a word? It reminds me of when a person will use the word "utilize." It means use, so why not use the word use? I have a feeling that we use big words to make ourselves appear smarter or more powerful or to compensate for the fact that we don't feel that way. Or maybe we want to appear mysterious so we settle for being misunderstood.