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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
deep, recondite
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