abstruse
Americanadjective
-
hard to understand; recondite; esoteric.
abstruse theories.
- Synonyms:
- arcane, unfathomable, incomprehensible
- Antonyms:
- obvious, simple, uncomplicated, clear
-
Obsolete. secret; hidden.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of abstruse
1590–1600; < Latin abstrūsus thrust away, concealed (past participle of abstrūdere ), equivalent to abs- abs- + trūd- thrust + -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
Abstruse things are difficult to comprehend because they are deep, complex, and intellectually challenging. While a riddle may be a little tricky to figure out, theoretical quantum entanglement is abstruse. The Latin root of the word abstruse is abstrusus, meaning "hidden, concealed, secret," which is a good way to remember the meaning of this word. It describes something so dense or complex that its meaning feels hidden from understanding. A theory or a text is abstruse when it requires deep study to uncover its "hidden" truth. Some famously abstruse topics include high-level mathematics like Category Theory, "the mathematics of mathematics," and certain coding languages, like Malbolge.
Vocabulary lists containing abstruse
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They explain abstruse technical aspects, muse on therapy practices and add historical and cultural references.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
The harvest was a series of crises, notably the 1998 collapse of the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management, which was founded by Nobel economics laureates to pursue abstruse arbitrage trades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Mr. Barnes has long brought something exotic to English literature, but never anything so abstruse as to become alienating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
That might sound like an abstruse philosophical argument, but he says it's a hot debate within the scientific community.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2025
We appreciate the abstruse concept of equations breaking down through an example, division by zero, which we can understand for ourselves in either of two ways.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
