abstruse
complicated, obscure
TRANSLATION
schwer verständlich, abstrus
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
"Nicolas Sarkozy, the French minister of the interior,... wanted to be seen to be doing something about the most difficult problem in French domestic politics.... his response was a referendum so ABSTRUSE and vague it managed to please neither the separatists, nor the island's traditionally cautious electorate."
(Report on Corsica - BBC News - 12 July 2003)
(Report on Corsica - BBC News - 12 July 2003)
Did you
know?
abstruse
Is from the - Latin. abstrusus, p. p. of abstrudere to thrust away, conceal; ab, abs + trudere to thrust -- and means lacking clarity of meaning.
Synonyms: ambiguous, equivocal, obscure, recondite, abstruse, vague, cryptic, enigmatic
AMBIGUOUS indicates the presence of two or more possible meanings: "Frustrated by ambiguous instructions, I was unable to operate the DVD remote."
EQUIVOCAL means unclear or misleading:
"The consultant had a complex and equivocal message for in answer to his client's question."
OBSCURE implies lack of clarity of expression:
"Some say that Kafka's style is obscure and complex.
ABSTRUSE suggests the erudite obscurity of the scholar:
"The students avoided the professor's abstruse lectures.
VAGUE is expressed in indefinite form or reflects imprecision of thought:
"Vague... forms of speech... have so long passed for mysteries of science." (John Locke).
CRYPTIC suggests a sometimes deliberately puzzling terseness: "The new insurance policy is full of cryptic terms."
ENIGMATIC means mysterious and puzzling:
"The biography struggles to make sense of the artist's enigmatic life."
Adapted from: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Is from the - Latin. abstrusus, p. p. of abstrudere to thrust away, conceal; ab, abs + trudere to thrust -- and means lacking clarity of meaning.
Synonyms: ambiguous, equivocal, obscure, recondite, abstruse, vague, cryptic, enigmatic
AMBIGUOUS indicates the presence of two or more possible meanings: "Frustrated by ambiguous instructions, I was unable to operate the DVD remote."
EQUIVOCAL means unclear or misleading:
"The consultant had a complex and equivocal message for in answer to his client's question."
OBSCURE implies lack of clarity of expression:
"Some say that Kafka's style is obscure and complex.
ABSTRUSE suggests the erudite obscurity of the scholar:
"The students avoided the professor's abstruse lectures.
VAGUE is expressed in indefinite form or reflects imprecision of thought:
"Vague... forms of speech... have so long passed for mysteries of science." (John Locke).
CRYPTIC suggests a sometimes deliberately puzzling terseness: "The new insurance policy is full of cryptic terms."
ENIGMATIC means mysterious and puzzling:
"The biography struggles to make sense of the artist's enigmatic life."
Adapted from: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
