Abstruse

Quick meaning: Abstruse is an adjective meaning Difficult to comprehend or understand; obscure.

Meaning

Difficult to comprehend or understand; obscure.

More Meanings

1. (obsolete) Concealed or hidden; secret.

Example Sentences

Be leſs abſtruſe, my riddling days are paſt.

In a thousand ways he smoothed for me the path of knowledge, and made the most abstruse inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension.

Some time the good makithe an ile end⸝ ãd the ile a godd. In this opiniõ⸝ and in ſcrutable miſterie be werithe all his wittes⸝ and at the end of his cogitacions⸝ fyndithe more abſtruſe⸝ and doutfull obiections thẽ at the beginning⸝ […]

'Tis certain, that the eaſy and obvious Philoſophy vvill always, vvith the Generality of Mankind, have the Preference to the accurate and abſtruſe; and by many vvill be recommended, not only as more agreeable, but more uſeful than the other.

Word Forms

• abstruser
• abstrusest

Synonyms for abstruse

Depending on context, synonyms include abstrusive, arcane, cryptic, esoteric, recondite, dense.

Antonyms for abstruse

Common opposites include clear, obvious, understandable, apprehensible, limpid, comprehensible.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include recondite, deep, esoteric, cryptographs, mystifying, complicated.

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