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A Word A Day : Abstruse
Sunday, 12th August 2007 : Today's Word is...
Abstruse
Pronunciation : (ab-strus')
1. Difficult to understand
2. Beyond the understanding of an average mind
3. Hard to understand
Latin abstrūsus, past participle of abstrūdere, to hide : abs-, ab-, away; see ab–1 + trūdere, to push
1. Bewildering
2. Circuitous
3. Complex
4. Complicated
5. Deep
6. Hypothetical
7. Ideal
8. Indefinite
9. Intellectual
10. Nonconcrete
11. Philosophical
12. Recondite
13. Theoretical
14. Transcendent
15. Transcendental
16. Unreal
17. Ambiguous
1. Child's Play
2. Clear
3. Comprehensible
4. Concrete
5. Direct
6. Easy
7. Lucid
8. Obvious
9. Plain
10. Simple
• The professor's article, on the meaning of meaning, was very abstruse. Michael couldn't even pronounce the words in it.
• Nuclear physics is a subject that is too abstruse for most people.
• All of the texts were abstruse to Mike.
Abstrusely : ab·struse'ly : Adverb
Abstruseness : ab·struse'ness : Noun
When you mean to criticize something for being needlessly complex or baffling, the word you need is not obtuse, but abstruse.
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