Definitions for abstruse
æbˈstrusab·struse

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. abstruse, deep, reconditeadjective

   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"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. abstruseadjective

   remote from apprehension; difficult to comprehend or understand; recondite; as in abstruse learning.

2. abstruseadjective

   concealed or hidden out of the way.

3. Etymology: * First attested in 1599.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Abstruseadjective

   Etymology: abstrusus, Lat. thrust out of sight.

   1. Hidden.

   Th’ eternal eye, whose sight discerns
   Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount,
   And from within the golden lamps that burn
   Nightly before him, saw, without their light,
   Rebellion rising. John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. v. l. 712.

   2. Difficult, remote from conception or apprehension. It is opposed to obvious and easy.

   So spake our Sire, and, by his count’nance, seem’d
   Ent’ring on studious thoughts abstruse. Parad. Lost, b. viii.

   The motions and figures within the mouth are abstruse, and not easy to be distinguished, especially those of the tongue, which is moved through the help of many muscles, so easily, and habitually, and variously, that we are scarce able to give a judgment of motions and figures thereby framed. William Holder, Elements of Speech.

   No man could give a rule of the greatest beauties, and the knowledge of them was so abstruse, that there was no manner of speaking which could express them. John Dryden, Dufresnoy.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. abstruse

   In philosophy, the terms obscurantism and obscurationism describe the anti-intellectual practices of deliberately presenting information in an abstruse and imprecise manner that limits further inquiry and understanding of a subject. There are two historical and intellectual denotations of obscurantism: (1) the deliberate restriction of knowledge—opposition to the dissemination of knowledge; and (2) deliberate obscurity—a recondite style of writing characterized by deliberate vagueness.The term obscurantism derives from the title of the 16th-century satire Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum (Letters of Obscure Men, 1515–1519), which was based upon the intellectual dispute between the German Catholic humanist Johann Reuchlin and the monk Johannes Pfefferkorn of the Dominican Order, about whether or not all Jewish books should be burned as un-Christian heresy. Earlier, in 1509, the monk Pfefferkorn had obtained permission from Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1486–1519), to burn all copies of the Talmud (Jewish law and Jewish ethics) known to be in the Holy Roman Empire (AD 926–1806); the Letters of Obscure Men satirized the Dominican arguments for burning un-Christian works. In the 18th century, Enlightenment philosophers applied the term obscurantist to any enemy of intellectual enlightenment and the liberal diffusion of knowledge. In the 19th century, in distinguishing the varieties of obscurantism found in metaphysics and theology from the "more subtle" obscurantism of the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and of modern philosophical skepticism, Friedrich Nietzsche said: "The essential element in the black art of obscurantism is not that it wants to darken individual understanding, but that it wants to blacken our picture of the world, and darken our idea of existence."

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. abstruse

   Abstruse refers to something that is difficult to understand or comprehend due to its complexity or obscurity. It often relates to theories, concepts, or ideas that are deeply intellectual or hidden from general understanding.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Abstruseadjective

   concealed or hidden out of the way

2. Abstruseadjective

   remote from apprehension; difficult to be comprehended or understood; recondite; as, abstruse learning

3. Etymology: [L. abstrusus, p. p. of abstrudere to thrust away, conceal; ab, abs + trudere to thrust; cf. F. abstrus. See Threat.]

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Abstruse

   abs-trōōs′, adj. hidden: remote from apprehension: difficult to be understood.—adv. Abstruse′ly.—ns. Abstruse′ness; Abstrus′ity (Sir T. Browne). [L. abstrusus, thrust away (from observation)—trudĕre, trusum, to thrust.]

How to pronounce abstruse?

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How to say abstruse in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of abstruse in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of abstruse in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of abstruse in a Sentence

1. Woodward Fischer:

   This discovery from Jared Leadbetter and Hang fills a major intellectual gap in our understanding of Earth's elemental cycles, and adds to the diverse ways in which manganese, an abstruse but common transition metal, has shaped the evolution of life on our planet.

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References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=abstruse
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Abstruse
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=abstruse
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstruse
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abstruse
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=abstruse