esoteric

adjective es·o·ter·ic \ ˌe-sə-ˈter-ik , -ˈte-rik \

|Updated on: 10 Jun 2018

Examples: esoteric in a Sentence

Editor's Note: What is the Opposite of esoteric?

Definition of esoteric

1 a : designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone

a body of esoteric legal doctrine
—B. N. Cardozo

b : requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group

esoteric terminology

; broadly : difficult to understand

esoteric subjects

2 a : limited to a small circle

engaging in esoteric pursuits

b : private, confidential

an esoteric purpose

3 : of special, rare, or unusual interest

esoteric building materials

—

esoterically

play \ˌe-sə-ˈter-i-k(ə-)lē, -ˈte-ri-\ adverb

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Examples of esoteric in a Sentence

A kahuna is a master of Hawaiian esoteric practices. Recently, Mariko Gordon and Hugh Cosman engaged a kahuna to bless their house. … —Alec Wilkinson, New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2002
… he listens to a group of Malaysians playing reedy, plangent music on some esoteric kind of wind instrument. —Penelope Lively, City of the Mind, 1991
There was a new mall, an excellent bookstore with esoteric literary and policy journals, some restaurants with cosmopolitan menus, and engaging real estate advertisements. —Robert D. Kaplan, An Empire Wilderness, 1988
metaphysics is such an esoteric subject that most people are content to leave it to the philosophers
must have had some esoteric motive for leaving his art collection to a museum halfway around the globe

Recent Examples of esoteric from the Web

Miller will deliver an evening's worth of esoteric and sublime observations May 18 at Carmel's Palladium.

— david lindquist, Indianapolis Star, "Dennis Miller promises one-third politics, two-thirds ‘just funny’ on Palladium visit," 17 May 2018
Making things even sweeter for Dessner is the fact that Homecoming will take place at the same time as the 13th edition of his long-running avant garde new music festival MusicNow, whose lineup tends to skew more esoteric end surprising.

— gil kaufman, Billboard, "The National on Bringing Their Friends to Cincinnati for MusicNow & Homecoming Festival Double-Bill," 26 Apr. 2018
The four day psyche-fest was a bonanza of seminars, from the doctrinaire to the esoteric, the practical to the political.

— penelope green, New York Times, "Still Talking After All These Years," 17 Feb. 2018
But growing the robust and handsome Wine Cap Stropharia (Stropharia rugoso-annulata) doesn’t require any special equipment or esoteric knowledge.

— Sunset, "How to Grow Mushrooms," 22 Jan. 2018
The writing is not always good, in a traditional sense, and the design is sometimes too esoteric for its own good.

— julie muncy, WIRED, "Yes, Call of Duty's Single-Player Campaign Will Be Missed," 18 May 2018
The mad genius of elite soccer prides himself on his constantly evolving, wildly esoteric game plans and usually has the talent in his squad to flit between them.

— joshua robinson, WSJ, "Liverpool Exploits a Rare Tactical Error by Soccer’s Mad Genius," 5 Apr. 2018
The memos outlined a cumbersome seven-step ordering process that required inmates to submit their requests with the book title, author — and esoteric 13-digit ISBN number of each volume.

— Washington Post, "Federal prisons abruptly cancel policy that made it harder, costlier for inmates to get books," 3 May 2018
Like Ramis, Kenney had always been fascinated by Zen Buddhism and had read enough about the subject to offhandedly inject its esoteric teachings into the film.

— chris nashawaty, SI.com, "Inside the Caddyshack Scene That Squashed the Bill Murray-Chevy Chase Beef," 17 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'esoteric.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

What is the Opposite of esoteric?

The opposite of esoteric is exoteric, which means "suitable to be imparted to the public." According to one account, those who were deemed worthy to attend Aristotle's learned discussions were known as his "esoterics," his confidants, while those who merely attended his popular evening lectures were called his "exoterics." Since material that is geared toward a target audience is often not as easily comprehensible to outside observers, esoteric acquired an extended meaning of "difficult to understand." Both esoteric and exoteric started appearing in English in the mid-1600s; esoteric traces back to ancient Greek by way of the Late Latin esotericus. The Greek esōterikos is based on the comparative form of esō, which means "within."

Origin and Etymology of esoteric

Late Latin esotericus, from Greek esōterikos, from esōterō, comparative of eisō, esō within, from eis into; akin to Greek en in — more at in

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1660

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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