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exoteric

adj
/ˌɛksə(ʊ)ˈtɛɹɪk/UK/ˌɛksəˈtɛɹɪk/US

Etymology

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Late Latin exōtericus + English -ic (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’). Exōtericus is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐξωτερῐκός (exōterĭkós, “exterior, external, outside”, adjective), from ἐξωτέρω (exōtérō, “more exterior”) (the comparative form of ἔξω (éxō, “external, outer”) (ultimately from ἐκ (ek, “beyond; outside”, preposition), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs (“out”)) + -τέρω (-térō) (an inflected form of -τερος (-teros, suffix forming comparative forms)) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives). The noun is derived from the adjective.

  1. derived from *h₁eǵʰs✻ — “out”
  2. derived from ἐξωτερῐκός — “exterior, external, outside”
  3. learned borrowing from exōtericus

Definitions

  1. Of a doctrine, information, etc.

    Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations.

    • In one of his works he [Samuel Taylor Coleridge] has ascribed to [Immanuel] Kant the foppery of an exoteric and an esoteric doctrine; and that upon grounds wholly untenable.

  2. Capable of being fully or readily comprehended by the public

    Capable of being fully or readily comprehended by the public; accessible; also, having an obvious application.

    • [H]e vvill alvvays aſſiſt a careful and accurate examiner in reſcuing the eſoteric purity of his doctrines from that leſs amiable appearance in vvhich their exoteric garb repreſents them.
    • [F]olk and elite music are closer to each other than they are to popular music. […] [T]he grouping together of folk and elite might be termed relatively esoteric, in contrast to the more exoteric popular forms.

  3. External.

    • [M]y Deſign […] is not to Theologize in Philoſophy, but to dravv an Exoterick Fence or exteriour Fortification about Theologie; […]
    • In later times Mercury at Athens was, according to [Karl Otfried] Müller, a Secondary also to Apollo, charged with the exoteric and material parts of several among his functions.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Having wide currency

      Having wide currency; popular, prevalent.

    2. A person who is not part of an enlightened inner circle, and not privy to esoteric…

      A person who is not part of an enlightened inner circle, and not privy to esoteric knowledge.

      • I am an exoteric—utterly unable to explain the mysteries of this new poetical faith. I only know that it is a faith, which except a man do keep pure and undefiled, without doubt he shall be called a blockhead.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for exoteric. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

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