arcane

adjective

ar·​cane är-ˈkān How to pronounce arcane (audio)
: known or knowable only to a few people : secret
arcane rites
an arcane ritual
broadly : mysterious, obscure
arcane explanations
arcane technical details

Examples of arcane in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In truth, Ferrari’s in-house Centro Stile has long got used to translating the arcane requirements of the company’s tech bros into something visually stimulating. Jason Barlow, WIRED, 17 Oct. 2024 On the sidelines, where people pored over arcane PowerPoints of voter data, the mood was grimmer. Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2024 The company’s games were streamlined and approachable, in contrast with more arcane competitors that, especially in the early days of PC gaming, seemed to demand that players reference dense manuals at every turn. Jason Schreier, The Atlantic, 7 Oct. 2024 In 2019, Google claimed its Sycamore quantum processor performed, in just 200 seconds, an arcane numerical generation task that would have taken a classical computer 10,000 years to complete. Leslie Katz, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for arcane 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'arcane.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin arcānus "secret, private, intimate," from arca "chest, coffer, box" + -ānus -an entry 2 — more at ark

First Known Use

1547, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of arcane was in 1547

Dictionary Entries Near arcane

Cite this Entry

“Arcane.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arcane. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

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