Abstruse

Definition: Abstruse

Abstruse

Adjective

1. 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".

Date "abstruse" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Etymology: Abstruse \Ab*struse"\, adjective. [Latin expression abstrusus, past participle of abstrudere to thrust away, conceal; ab, abs trudere to thrust; compare to French abstrus. See Threat.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Abstruse

Synonyms: deep (adj), recondite (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Unintelligibility	Indefinite, garbled; (indistinct); perplexed; (confused); undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous; mysterious; mystic, mystical; acroamatic, acroamatical; metempirical; transcendental; occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Abstruse

English words defined with "abstruse": abstruseness, abstrusity, Acroamatical ♦ deep ♦ legalese ♦ Obscure rays, obscureness, obscurity ♦ profoundness, profundity ♦ recondite, reconditeness, Retruse. (references)

Specialty definitions using "abstruse": Esoteric. (references)

Etymologies containing "abstruse": Abstrude, Abstrusion, Abstrusity. (references)

Domain	Title
Books	Adventures of Thought in Abstruse Realms (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	ESOTERIC, adj. Very particularly abstruse and consummately occult. The ancient philosophies were of two kinds, -- exoteric, those that the philosophers themselves could partly understand, and esoteric, those that nobody could understand. It is the latter that have most profoundly affected modern thought and found greatest acceptance in our time.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Abstruse" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 86.67% of the time. "Abstruse" is used about 30 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	86.67%	26	68,323
Lexical Verb (base form)	10%	3	202,518
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	3.33%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	30	N/A

The following table summarizes names derived from the word "abstruse".
Name	Gender	Language	Meaning
Tammuz	N/A	Biblical	Abstruse
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "abstruse": seemingly-abstruse.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "abstruse"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		misterieus (mysterious). (various references)

Albanian		i thellë (black, deep, dense, distant, heavy, intense, out of the way, profound, saturated, visceral), i pakuptueshëm (elusive, fathomless, illegible, impalpable, impenetrable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, intangible, obscure, thick, unattainable, unclear, unintelligible, unknowable, unmeaning, unsearchable), i errët (addle, ambiguous, arcane, black, blind, cloudy, dark, darkling, darksome, deep, delphian, delphic, dim, dingy, dusky, foggy, fuscous, gloomy, indeterminate, inky, low-browed, mirk, misted, muddy, murk, murky, nebulous, nigrescent, obscure, opaque, recondite, sable, sad, secret, shady, somber, sombre, tenebrous). (various references)

Arabic		‏مبهم (ambiguous, cryptic, dark, dim, enigmatic, equivocal, hazy, impenetrable, incomprehensible, inscrutable, misty, mysterious, mystic, obscure, recondite, unclear, unfathomable, unintelligible, vague), ‏غامض (ambiguous, cloudy, deep, dim, double faced, dreamy, enigmatic, evasive, fuzzy, grave, hazy, impenetrable, incomprehensible, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, indistinguishable, inscrutable, intangible, lax, magic, magical, misty, mysterious, mystic, nebulous, obscure, occult, opaque, puzzling, recondite, secret, shady, sketchy, slippery, sloppy, uncertain, unintelligible, vague, woolly), ‏عميق (cordial, deep, fast, heavy, ingrained, inward, passionate, profound, sound, thorough), ‏عويص (abstract, deep, difficult, opaque, profound, recondite, stiff, strenuous). (various references)

Bulgarian		труден за разбиране (profound), неясен (ambiguous, amorphous, blear, bleary, confused, crepuscular, dark, doubtful, dreamy, dusk, fuzzy, hazy, illegible, inarticulate, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indistinct, intangible, involved, inward, loose, misty, muddy, muzzy, nebulous, obscure, pale, recondite, shadowy, soft, transcendental, ulterior, unclear, undecided, unformed, vague, vapory, vapoury, wan, woolly), неразбираем (fathomless, impenetrable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, ineligible, inscrutable, opaque, profound, unintelligible). (various references)

Chinese		沕 (profound), 深奥. (various references)

Czech		tìžko pochopitelný, odlehlý (far flung, far off, out of the way, out of way, outlying, remote), nesrozumitelný (incomprehensible, unintelligible), nejasný (ambiguous, dim, dimmish, equivocal, faint, fuzzy, hazy, indeterminate, indistinct, misty, obscure, stolid, tenuous, unclear, vague, woolly). (various references)

Dutch		mysterieus (mysterious), geheimzinnig (apocalyptic, mysterious). (various references)

Esperanto		profundsenca, mistera (mysterious). (various references)

Faeroese		gátuførur (mysterious), dularfullur (mysterious). (various references)

Farsi		پیچیده (Crackly, Crump, Indirect, Intricate, Obscurant, Recondite, Revolute, Unintelligible), پنهان (Cryptic, Latent, Surreptitious), غامض (Knotty, Problematic, Unintelligible). (various references)

Finnish		vaikeaselkoinen (hard to understand). (various references)

French		abstrus, abscons, obscur, mystérieux. (various references)

German		schwerverständlich (difficult to understand, incomprehensible, incomprehensibly, obscure), abstrus (fanciful, recondite). (various references)

Greek		δυσνόητοσ (incomprehensible, obscure, recondite). (various references)

Hebrew		קש�" ל�"ב� �", עמום (dim, faint, frosting, fuzzy, muzzy, obscure, obtuse, opaque, tarnish, vague), סתום (blocked, closed, closing, congested, corking, incomprehensible, obscure, stopped up, stopping, vague, vagueness). (various references)

Hungarian		rejtett értelmû (esoteric, oracular), homályos (apocalyptic, bleary, blurred, cloudy, darksome, dim, dusk, dusky, equivocal, foggy, frosted, fuzzy, gloomy, hazy, indistinct, indistinctive, lustreless, misty, murky, nebulous, oblique, obscure, recondite, shadowy, shady, shape, stygian, transcendental, twilit, unclear, vague). (various references)

Indonesian		sulit dimengerti, sukar difahami, muskil, mendalam (become deep, deepen, exhaustive, going deep, sink in, visceral). (various references)

Italian		misterioso (cryptic, eerie, enigmatic, mysterious, occult, secret, suspect, suspicious, unearthly, weird), astruso (discombobulated, recondite). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		玄妙 (mysterious, occult). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		�'�"みょう (mysterious, occult). (various references)

Manx		neuvaghtal (imperceptible, inconspicuous, indistinct, vague). (various references)

Pig Latin		abstruseay.(various references)

Polish		tajemniczy (mysterious). (various references)

Portuguese		abstruso (recondite). (various references)

Romanian		ascuns (backstairs, blind, cagey, close, concealed, covert, cryptic, dark, furtive, hidden, masked, mystic, occult, postern, privy, q.t., quiet, recondite, secluded, secret, secretive, self contained, sneaking, stealthy, sunken, ulterior, uncommunicative, underground, underhand, undiscovered), abstrus (abstract, occult), abstract (abstract, abstractive, abstractly, discrete, fine-spun, lunar, notionally, pure, remote), abracadabrant (bizarre, fantastic, fantastical), profund (deep, deeply, home-felt, keen, profound, profoundly, rootedly, sound, thick, thorough, thoughtful), ocult (hidden, mystic, occult, recondite, secret, supernatural), obscur (cloudy, confused, dark, darksome, dim, dull, entangled, foggy, gloomy, indistinct, murk, obscure, obscurely, recondite, tenebrous, unknown, unnoticed), nepãtruns (hidden, secret), greu de înţeles (crabbed), esoteric (mystic, recondite). (various references)

Russian		трудный для понимания, глубокомысленный, глубокий (abysmal, dead, deep, in-depth, profound, rooted). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		teško razumljiv, nepronicljiv (unapprehensive, undiscerning), nejasan (bleary, blurred, dim, fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, indistinctive, nebulous, obscure, recondite, unclear, undetermined, vague). (various references)

Spanish		abstruso. (various references)

Swedish		abstrus, svårfattlig (deep), mysteriös (mysterious). (various references)

Turkish		anlaşılması zor (complicated, hermetic, muddy, recondite), derin (deep, fathomless, profound, recondite, religious, sound). (various references)

Ukranian		темний (backwoods, black, cimmerian, dark, darkling, darksome, lowering, murk, murky, nightly, nigrescent, obscure, occult, opaque, shaded, smutty, somber, sombre), глибокий (abysmal, cordial, deep, deep rooted, deep-drawn, deep-seated, dense, intensive, profound), неясний (ambiguous, amorphous, blear, blind, blurred, chancy, darkling, doubtful, dusk, faint, fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, misty, nebulose, nebulous, nubilous, obscure, opaque, oracular, oraculous, recondite, shadowy, transcendental, unaccounted for, unclear, undistinguished, woolly, wooly), малозрозумілий. (various references)

Vietnamese		sâu sắc (deep, insightful, intimately, racy, vivid), khó hiểu thâm thuý. (various references)

Welsh		astrus (ambiguous, difficult), tywyll (benighted, blind, dark, obscure), dyrys (difficult, perplexing, tangled). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	abditis, abdito, abscondita, absconditae, absconditi, absconditis, abscondito, absconditos, absconditum, absconditus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "abstruse": abstrusely, abstruseness, abstrusenesses, abstruser, abstrusest. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Abstruse" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Absaroke, abstruce, abstruser, abstrusus, absturse, abstuse, abtruse, abtsruse, abtuse, Astrasoi, astruse, obstruse. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "abstruse" (pronounced ubstruw"s)
4	-t r uw" s	truce.
3	-r uw" s	Spruce.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-e-r-s-s-t-u"
	-1 letter: abusers, arbutes, basters, breasts, bursate, busters, rubasse, surbase.
	-2 letters: abuser, abuses, arbute, assert, assure, asters, barest, basest, basset, baster, bastes, beasts, beauts, breast, brutes, burets, bursae, bursas, burses, bursts, buster, estrus, rebuts, russet, sabers, sabres, sautes, stares, subers, subsea, subset, surest, sutras, tabers, tarsus, tubers, tussar, tusser, urases, urates.
	-3 letters: abets, abuse, abuts, arses, asset, aster, aures, bares, baser, bases, baste, basts, bates, bears, beast, beats, beaus, beaut, bests, betas, braes, brass, brats, brute, buras, buret, bursa, burse, burst, buses, busts, butes, easts, rases, rates, rebus, rebut, rests, rubes, ruses, rusts, saber, sabes, sabre, sates, saute, sears, seats, stabs, stare, stars, stubs, subas, suber, suers, suets, suras, sutra, taber, tabes, tabus, tares, tasse, tears, trass, tress, trues, truss, tsars, tsuba, tubae, tubas, tuber, tubes, urase, urate, ureas, ursae, users.
	-4 letters: abet, abut, arbs, ares, arse, arts, ates, bare, bars, base, bass, bast, bate, bats, bear, beat, beau, best, beta, bets, brae, bras, brat, brut, bura, burs, buss, bust, bute, buts, ears, east, eats, eras, erst, etas, rase, rate, rats, rebs, rest, rets, rube, rubs, rues, ruse, rust, ruts, sabe, sabs, sate, sear, seas, seat, sera, sers, seta, sets, stab, star, stub, suba, subs, suer, sues, suet, sura, sure, tabs, tabu, tare, tars, tass, taus, tear, teas, true, tsar, tuba, tube, tubs, urbs, urea, ursa, user, uses, utas.
	-5 letters: abs, arb, are, ars, art, ass, ate, bar, bas, bat, bet, bra, bur, bus, but, ear, eat, eau, era, ers, ess, eta, ras, rat, reb, res, ret, rub, rue, rut, sab, sae, sat, sau, sea, ser, set, sub, sue, tab, tae, tar, tas, tau, tea, tub, urb, use, uta, uts.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-e-r-s-s-t-u"
	+1 letter: abstruser, absurdest, arbutuses, balusters, barguests, saboteurs, substrate, tarbushes.
	+2 letters: abruptness, abstrusely, abstrusest, brutalises, bushmaster, grubstakes, subalterns, submarkets, subrogates, substrates, sunbathers.
	+3 letters: absurdities, balustrades, breadstuffs, bushmasters, gangbusters, grubstakers, masturbates, rouseabouts, salubrities, staggerbush, subchapters, subprimates, subtracters, subtrahends, subtreasury.
	+4 letters: abruptnesses, abstruseness, abstrusities, burgomasters, disturbances, houseboaters, obdurateness, paintbrushes, sauerbratens, strabismuses, subcuratives, subintervals, subirrigates, subordinates, subsaturated, subsecretary, suburbanites, subvarieties, transfusable, transfusible.
	+5 letters: counterblasts, insalubrities, misattributes, rabbitbrushes, reusabilities, staggerbushes, subcategories, subcontraries, suberizations, subliteracies, subterraneous, subtreasuries, supercabinets.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.