recondite

[rek-uhn-dahyt, ri-kon-dahyt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR recondite ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter: a recondite treatise.

beyond ordinary knowledge or understanding; esoteric: recondite principles.

little known; obscure: a recondite fact.

Origin of recondite

1640–50; earlier recondit < Latin reconditus recondite, hidden (orig. past participle of recondere to hide), equivalent to re- re- + cond(ere) to bring together (con- con- + -dere to put) + -itus -ite²

Related formsrec·on·dite·ly, adverbrec·on·dite·ness, nounun·rec·on·dite, adjective

Synonyms for recondite

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR recondite ON THESAURUS.COM

2. deep. 3. mysterious, occult, secret.

Antonyms for recondite

2. exoteric. 3. well-known.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for recondite

Contemporary Examples of recondite

How else to explain the popularity of a novel so free of plot, so obsessed with existential rumination and recondite philosophy?
American Dreams: Saul Bellow’s Masterpiece of Lamentation
Nathaniel Rich
July 27, 2014
Classical allusions, poetical turns of phrase, antique diction, recondite words.
David's Book Club: The Souls of Black Folk
David Frum
May 5, 2013

Historical Examples of recondite

Yet there is no need to apply any recondite or novel machinery.
The Memorabilia
Xenophon
In the university that life is, she had acquired encyclopedias of recondite learning.
The Paliser case
Edgar Saltus
In itself, it has no recondite meaning, it answers fully its own sweet purpose.
Spare Hours
John Brown
If he had recondite and "artistic" feelings, he indulged them also without shame.
Visions and Revisions
John Cowper Powys
And we have legends in recondite books of the manner of the King's death.
Burlesques
William Makepeace Thackeray

British Dictionary definitions for recondite

recondite

adjective

requiring special knowledge to be understood; abstruse

dealing with abstruse or profound subjects

Derived Formsreconditely, adverbreconditeness, noun

Word Origin for recondite

C17: from Latin reconditus hidden away, from re- + condere to conceal

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

Word Origin and History for recondite

adj.

1640s, "removed or hidden from view," from Old French recondit, from Latin reconditus, past participle of recondere "store away, hide, conceal, put back again, put up again, lay up," from re- "away, back" (see re-) + condere "to store, hide, put together," from con- "together" (see con-) + -dere "to put, place," comb. form of dare "to give" (see date (n.1)). Meaning "removed from ordinary understanding, profound" is from 1650s; of writers or sources, "obscure," it is recorded from 1817.