esoteric

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adjective

Definition of ESOTERIC

1

difficult for one of ordinary knowledge or intelligence to understand <metaphysics is such an esoteric subject that most people are content to leave it to the philosophers>

Synonyms abstruse, arcane, deep, esoteric, hermetic (also hermetical), recondite

Related Words erudite, learned, scholarly; academic (also academical), pedantic; complex, complicated, hard; darkling, enigmatic (also enigmatical), inscrutable, mysterious, mystic, mystical, orphic, uncanny; impenetrable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, unintelligible; ambiguous, cryptic; unanswerable, unknowable; baffling, bewildering, confounding, confusing, disorienting, mystifying, perplexing, puzzling

Near Antonyms easy, facile, simple, straightforward; comprehensible, fathomable, intelligible, understandable; apparent, clear, clear-cut, distinct, evident, lucid, manifest, obvious, perspicuous, plain, transparent

Antonyms shallow, superficial

2

not known or meant to be known by the general populace <must have had some esoteric motive for leaving his art collection to a museum halfway around the globe>

Synonyms behind-the-scenes, confidential, esoteric, hushed, hush-hush, inside, intimate, nonpublic, privy, secret

Related Words classified, restricted, top secret; silent, unadvertised, unannounced, undisclosed, unmentioned, unsaid, untold; clandestine, closet, collusive, conspiratorial, covert; furtive, hugger-mugger, occult, sneak, sneaking, sneaky, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover, underground, underhand, underhanded; personal; closeted, concealed, hidden; repressed, silenced, stifled, suppressed; backstage, offscreen, offstage

Near Antonyms well-known; advertised, aired, announced, blazed, broadcast, declared, disclosed, divulged, enunciated, heralded, proclaimed, professed, promulgated, publicized, published, reported, spotlighted; general, popular, prevailing, vulgar; current, prevalent, rife, widespread; communal, shared

Antonyms common, open, public