abstruse
3
9.9
- adjective
- /æbˈstruːs/
- Formal
:
abstruso
- The book contains several abstruse theories that require advanced knowledge to comprehend.
- abstruse subject
A lot of metaphysics is just the abstruse kind of moral philosophy.
- A lot of metaphysics is just the abstruse kind of moral philosophy.
- Well, I think there are several problems with this point of view, some obvious, some a bit more abstruse.
- The intentional idea As abstruse as this sounds, the intentional idea of chemical warfare was not to kill.
- So a kind of middle ground, right maybe between the easy and obvious and the accurate and abstruse, right.
- So this isn't just some abstruse linguistic speculations.
Examples
-
The few distinctive ideas the Chávez government has announced, meanwhile, are abstruse and probably unworkable.
Academic text (2001) -
His knowledge and contagious enthusiasm actually made me appreciate Shakespeare's abstruse phraseology.
-
And then their conversation would become so abstruse as to seem to be conducted in a foreign tongue.
Fiction book (1995) -
Their arguments got just as abstruse and sometimes just as heated, too.
Fiction book (1999) -
But for a book dealing with such abstruse material, it's surprisingly accessible.
Blog text (18) -
To many readers, these implications may seem strange or even abstruse, so they may well refuse to accept my thesis.
Academic text (2004) -
His concern was not with the earthy matters that troubled his sister; he dealt in abstruse issues, sometimes even beyond Malcolm's capacity to understand.
Fiction book (1993) -
Marxists, in voluminous and often abstruse polemics, have so far failed to define the term satisfactorily.
Academic text (1991) -
At sixteen, he made his way through Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead's famously abstruse masterpiece, Principia Mathematica.
Blog text (16) -
Many students find the professor's lectures on quantum physics to be abstruse and difficult to follow.
Synonyms
583
7.6
Hard to understand or explain
498
5.1
Hard to understand or explain because it seems strange
328
5.3
Not easy to see, hear, or understand
276
3.2
Hard to understand and makes people feel unsure
52
7.0
Hard to understand or describe, like the meaning of a symbol
47
7.8
Hard to explain or understand
46
8.8
Difficult or impossible to understand
28
8.2
Hard to understand because it is unclear or complex
27
8.1
Hard to understand and often seems mysterious
19
7.0
Something people cannot understand or find a clear reason for
14
8.0
Hard to understand or follow
14
8.3
Very hard to understand
12
8.9
Hard to understand because it shows no clear meaning or feeling
9
6.4
Difficult to understand
1
9.9
A subject that only a few people understand because it is hard to follow
1
9.3
Hard to understand, like a puzzle
1
8.6
Difficult to understand even after thinking about it
Difficult to understand
Hard to understand because it is mysterious and unclear
Said or written in a puzzling, mysterious way
Hard to understand or explain
Not possible for people to know or understand
Antonyms
How Difficult
Surface Forms
Etymology
Abstruse comes from Latin parts ab- ('away') and trudere ('to push'), the same root you see in intrude ('to push in'). So an abstruse idea is like something pushed away or hidden, which is why it means 'difficult to understand'.