Exoteric

/ˌɛksə(ʊ)ˈtɛɹɪk/ · adjective

Meaning

Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations..

Definitions by Sense

1. Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations.
2. Capable of being fully or readily comprehended by the public; accessible; also, having an obvious application.
3. External.
4. Having wide currency; popular, prevalent.
5. A person who is not part of an enlightened inner circle, and not privy to esoteric knowledge.

Example Sentences

In one of his works he [Samuel Taylor Coleridge] has ascribed to [Immanuel] Kant the foppery of an exoteric and an esoteric doctrine; and that upon grounds wholly untenable.

Again, it is folly to belittle the significance of the canonical prayer—or exoteric rites in general—out of some presumptuous notion of esoterism. [Frithjof] Schuon repeatedly stresses throughout his writings the indispensable nature of the exoteric framework of formal religion; without this framework, all "esoteric" exercises are doomed in advance to being nothing more than "psychological exploits."

The diſcourſe and doctrine vvhich he [Aristotle] delivered to his Diſciples vvas of tvvo kinds. One he called Exoterick, the other Acroatick. Exoterick vvere thoſe vvhich conduced to Rhetorick, meditation, nice diſputes, and the knovvledge of civill things. Acroatick thoſe in vvhich more remote and ſubtile Philoſophy vvas handled, and ſuch things as pertain to the contemplation of nature, and Dialectick Diſceptations.

[H]e vvill alvvays aſſiſt a careful and accurate examiner in reſcuing the eſoteric purity of his doctrines from that leſs amiable appearance in vvhich their exoteric garb repreſents them.

[F]olk and elite music are closer to each other than they are to popular music. […] [T]he grouping together of folk and elite might be termed relatively esoteric, in contrast to the more exoteric popular forms.

[M]y Deſign […] is not to Theologize in Philoſophy, but to dravv an Exoterick Fence or exteriour Fortification about Theologie; […]

Novv ſo it happens, that vvhenever St. Paul's compliance vvith the Jevviſh lavv is mentioned in the hiſtory, it is mentioned in connection vvith circumſtances vvhich point out the motive from vvhich it proceeded; and this motive appears to have been alvvays exoteric, namely, a love of order and tranquillity, or an unvvillingneſs to give unneceſſary offence.

In later times Mercury at Athens was, according to [Karl Otfried] Müller, a Secondary also to Apollo, charged with the exoteric and material parts of several among his functions.

Synonyms for exoteric

Antonyms for exoteric

Related Words

Word Forms

• more exoteric
• most exoteric
• exoterics

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