Etymology
Advertisement

abstruse (adj.)

1590s, "remote from comprehension," from French abstrus (16c.) or directly from Latin abstrusus "hidden, concealed, secret," past participle of abstrudere "conceal, hide," literally "to thrust away," from assimilated form of ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + trudere "to thrust, push," from PIE root *treud- "to press, push, squeeze" (see threat). Related: Abstrusely; abstruseness.

Origin and meaning of abstruse

Entries linking to abstruse

ab- 
word-forming element meaning "away, from, from off, down," denoting disjunction, separation, departure; from Latin ab (prep.) "off, away from" in reference to space or distance, also of time, from PIE root *apo- "off, away" (also the source of Greek apo "off, away from, from," Sanskrit apa "away from," Gothic af, English of, off; see apo-).

The Latin word also denoted "agency by; source, origin; relation to, in consequence of." Since classical times usually reduced to a- before -m-, -p-, or -v-; typically abs- before -c-, -q-, or -t-.
threat (n.)
Old English þreat "crowd, troop," also "oppression, coercion, menace," related to þreotan "to trouble, weary," from Proto-Germanic *thrautam (source also of Dutch verdrieten, German verdrießen "to vex"), from PIE *treud- "to push, press squeeze" (source also of Latin trudere "to press, thrust," Old Church Slavonic trudu "oppression," Middle Irish trott "quarrel, conflict," Middle Welsh cythrud "torture, torment, afflict"). Sense of "conditional declaration of hostile intention" was in Old English.

Others are reading

Advertisement
Advertisement
Definitions of abstruse

abstruse (adj.)
difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge;
the professor's lectures were so abstruse that students tended to avoid them
Synonyms: deep / recondite
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near abstruse

abstinent

abstract

abstracted

abstraction

abstractly

abstruse

absurd

absurdity

abuilding

abundance

abundant

© 2001-2022 Douglas Harper