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Definition of Abstruse
1. Adjective. Difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge. "Some recondite problem in historiography"
Similar to: Esoteric
Derivative terms: Abstruseness, Abstruseness, Abstrusity, Reconditeness
Definition of Abstruse
1. a. Concealed or hidden out of the way.
Definition of Abstruse
1. Adjective. remote from apprehension; difficult to comprehend or understand; recondite; obscure; as in '''abstruse''' learning. ¹
2. Adjective. (context: obsolete) concealed or hidden out of the way; secret. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Abstruse
1. difficult to understand [adj -STRUSER, -STRUSEST]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Abstruse
Literary usage of Abstruse
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Works of President Edwards by Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd (1830)
"It is so far from being true (whatever may be pretended) that the proof of the
doctrine which has been maintained, depends on certain abstruse, ..."
2. Handy-book of Literary Curiosities by William Shepard Walsh (1892)
"... Jamac exhausted his ingenuity in devising some abstruse and little-known weapon
by means of which he might b« more on an equality with his adversary. ..."
3. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann, Edward Aloysius Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas Joseph Shahan, John Joseph Wynne (1913)
"... counted the most subtle and abstruse of his productions. At a general chapter
of the order (Ferrara, 1494) Cajetan was selected to conduct the customary ..."
4. The New Larned History for Ready Reference, Reading and Research: The Actual by Josephus Nelson Larned, Augustus Hunt Shearer (1922)
"... the ancient sages; partly, prayers and psalms; and, partly, abstruse speculations
on the divine nature, with scholastic dissertations and commentaries. ..."
5. English Hymns: Their Authors and History by Samuel Willoughby Duffield (1886)
"... elucidating the Greek article, reviewing Robertson Smith and John Stuart Mill,
and preparing abstruse philosophical treatises. ..."
6. An Inquiry Into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that Freedom of by Jonathan Edwards (1831)
"... that in their reasonings they run into nice scholastic distinctions, and
abstruse metaphysical subtilties, and set these in opposition to common sense. ..."
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