recondite

[rek-uhn-dahyt, ri-kon-dahyt]

adjective

1. dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter.

   a recondite treatise.

2. beyond ordinary knowledge or understanding; esoteric.

   recondite principles.

   Synonyms: deep
   Antonyms: exoteric

3. little known; obscure.

   a recondite fact.

   Synonyms: secret, occult, mysterious
   Antonyms: well-known

recondite

/ rɪˈkɒndaɪt, ˈrɛkənˌdaɪt /

adjective

1. requiring special knowledge to be understood; abstruse

2. dealing with abstruse or profound subjects

Other Word Forms

• reconditely adverb
• reconditeness noun
• unrecondite adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of recondite¹

1640–50; earlier recondit < Latin reconditus recondite, hidden (originally past participle of recondere to hide), equivalent to re- re- + cond ( ere ) to bring together ( con- con- + -dere to put) + -itus -ite ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of recondite¹

C17: from Latin reconditus hidden away, from _re- + condere to conceal

Example Sentences

Social Security’s internal workings are so recondite and poorly understood by average voters that numerous possible ways of imposing benefit cuts or otherwise harming the program are hiding in plain sight.

From Los Angeles Times

Success and failure in the movie business is the most recondite of qualities.

From Los Angeles Times

Today, a number of doyens in the recondite field of AI admit they don’t know where all this is headed.

From Seattle Times

Today, the reverse can seem true, with these stylized spectacles coming across as a bit remote, recondite and sturdy next to the naturalistic emotional urgency of the Italian operas.

From New York Times

Pierre Boulez — like Bernstein, a composer, though in a more recondite modernist mode — innovated with repertory mixtures and concert formats.

From New York Times