arcane
known or understood by very few; mysterious; secret; obscure; esoteric: She knew a lot about Sanskrit grammar and other arcane matters.
Origin of arcane
1Words Nearby arcane
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use arcane in a sentence
The bills are long and complex, with arcane differences around industry policy, licensing and other details.
Virginia General Assembly poised for historic votes to legalize marijuana and end death penalty | Gregory S. Schneider, Laura Vozzella | February 4, 2021 | Washington PostThe recent fight between Senate Democrats and Republicans over the rules that would govern the chamber this session was complicated and arcane.
What Democrats Can’t Do As Long As The Filibuster Remains In Place — And What They Can | Perry Bacon Jr. (perry.bacon@fivethirtyeight.com) | February 1, 2021 | FiveThirtyEightIf that math seems wacky, it is, but leverage, arcane financial instruments and access to those by only a few is what makes it possible.
How the GameStop Trading Surge Will Transform Wall Street | Zachary Karabell | January 29, 2021 | TimeWhile many of the details are arcane, the infrastructure Paxos is building is potentially transformative for fields beyond cryptocurrency.
PayPal joins a major investment round in ‘plug-and-play’ crypto firm Paxos | Jeff | December 17, 2020 | FortuneHe also contributed clues, drawing from his knowledge in such arcane fields as oil drilling and bullfighting.
Alex Trebek, quintessential quizmaster as ‘Jeopardy!’ host for three decades, dies at 80 | Emily Langer | November 8, 2020 | Washington Post
All those bloodthirsty tweets and arcane exhortations and now we find out you were an advertising executive—an ad exec!
Food stamps are the biggest and most expensive component of the farm bill—an arcane piece of legislation that sets farm policy.
The arcane pair of paragraphs are packed with the sort of yawn-provoking polysyllables that only a lawyer could love.
He is admirably intent on rescuing literature from the arcane rituals of US academia and restoring it to a wider audience.
While they are arcane even in Georgia, they apparently are not without some small degree of influence.
Georgia Is Celebrating Confederate Heritage and History Month? Really? | John Avlon | April 2, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTarcane took a bucket of water back from camp and after drinking it and resting awhile the ox was driven down to the spring.
Death Valley in '49 | William Lewis ManlyNow preparations began, Mr. arcane killed the ox which had so nearly failed, and all the men went to drying and preparing meat.
Death Valley in '49 | William Lewis ManlyMr. arcane had about $30 and others threw in small amounts from forty cents upward.
Death Valley in '49 | William Lewis ManlyWe met Bennett and arcane's teamsters, and as we expected they were already out of grub and no way to get anymore.
Death Valley in '49 | William Lewis Manlyarcane was quite of the same opinion, the saving of a week of hard and tiresome travel being in each case the deciding reason.
Death Valley in '49 | William Lewis Manly
British Dictionary definitions for arcane
/ (ɑːˈkeɪn) /
requiring secret knowledge to be understood; mysterious; esoteric
Origin of arcane
1Derived forms of arcane
- arcanely, adverb
- arcaneness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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