Abstruse

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Abstruse \Ab*struse"\, a. [L. abstrusus, p. p. of abstrudere to
     thrust away, conceal; ab, abs + trudere to thrust; cf. F.
     abstrus. See {Threat}.]
     1. Concealed or hidden out of the way. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  


              The eternal eye whose sight discerns
              Abstrusest thoughts.                  --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Remote from apprehension; difficult to be comprehended or
        understood; recondite; as, abstruse learning.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Profound and abstruse topics.         --Milman.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  abstruse
       adj : difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary
             understanding or knowledge; "the professor's lectures
             were so abstruse that students tended to avoid them";
             "a deep metaphysical theory"; "some recondite problem
             in historiography" [syn: {deep}, {recondite}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  102 Moby Thesaurus words for "abstruse":
     Herculean, abstract, arcane, arduous, beclouded, blind, brutal,
     buried, civilized, close, clouded, complex, complicated, concealed,
     covered, covert, critical, cultivated, cultured, deep, delicate,
     demanding, difficile, difficult, eclipsed, educated, encyclopedic,
     erudite, esoteric, exacting, formidable, hairy, hard, hard-earned,
     hard-fought, heavy, hermetic, hid, hidden, hypothetical, ideal,
     in a cloud, in a fog, in eclipse, in purdah, in the wings,
     incommunicado, intricate, jawbreaking, knotted, knotty, laborious,
     latent, learned, lettered, literate, mean, mysterious, no picnic,
     not easy, obfuscated, obscure, obscured, occult, operose,
     pansophic, polyhistoric, polymath, polymathic, profound, recondite,
     rigorous, rough, rugged, scholarly, scholastic, secluded, secluse,
     secret, sequestered, set with thorns, severe, spiny, steep,
     strenuous, studious, thorny, ticklish, toilsome, tough,
     transcendental, tricky, under an eclipse, under cover,
     under house arrest, under wraps, underground, unknown, uphill,
     wicked, wise, wrapped in clouds