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abstruse

adj
/əbˈstɹuːs/UK/əbˈstɹus/CA/əbˈstɹʉs/

Etymology

PIE word *h₂epó Learned borrowing from Latin abstrūsus (“concealed, hidden; having been concealed”), an adjective use of the perfect passive participle of abstrūdō (“to conceal, hide; to push or thrust away”), from abs- (from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; away from’)) + trūdō (“to push, shove; to thrust”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *trewd- (“to push; to thrust”)). Cognates * Catalan abstrús * German abstrus (“abstruse”) * Italian astruso (“abstruse”) * Middle French abstruse (modern French abstrus, abstruse (“(derogatory, literary) abstruse”) * Portuguese abstruso (“abstruse”) * Spanish abstruso (“abstruse”)

  1. derived from *trewd-✻ — “to push; to thrust”
  2. learned borrowing from abstrūsus — “concealed, hidden; having been concealed”

Definitions

  1. Difficult to comprehend or understand

    Difficult to comprehend or understand; obscure.

    • Some time the good makithe an ile end⸝ ãd the ile a godd. In this opiniõ⸝ and in ſcrutable miſterie be werithe all his wittes⸝ and at the end of his cogitacions⸝ fyndithe more abſtruſe⸝ and doutfull obiections thẽ at the beginning⸝ […]
    • Be leſs abſtruſe, my riddling days are paſt.

  2. Concealed or hidden

    Concealed or hidden; secret.

    • O vvho is he that could carrie nevves to our olde father, that thou vvert but aliue, although thou vvert hidden in the moſt abſtruſe dungeons of Barbarie; for his riches, my brothers and mine vvould fetch thee from thence.
    • [T]he abſtruſeſt Things / VVhich in the Mindes dark Temper neſtling ly, / By you expoſed are to every Eye.

The neighborhood

Derived

abstrusely, abstruseness, abstrusity, non-abstruse

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at abstruse. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01abstruse02concealed03conceal04public05open06hidden07obscure

A definitional loop anchored at abstruse. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at abstruse

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA