 3 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
abstruse
adjective: 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}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abstruse \Ab*struse"\, adjective [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.]
The eternal eye whose sight discerns
Abstrusest thoughts. --Milton.
2. Remote from apprehension; difficult to be comprehended or
understood; recondite; as, abstruse learning.
Profound and abstruse topics. --Milman.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
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
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