esoteric

esoteric (ˌɛsəʊˈtɛrɪk)

—*adj*
1.	Compare exoteric restricted to or intended for an enlightened or initiated minority, esp because of abstruseness or obscurity: an esoteric cult
2.	difficult to understand; abstruse: an esoteric statement
3.	not openly admitted; private: esoteric aims

[C17: from Greek esōterikos, from esōterō inner]

eso'terically

—*adv*

eso'tericism

—n

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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

esoteric

1650s, from Gk. esoterikos "belonging to an inner circle," from esotero, comparative adv. of eso "within." In English, originally of Pythagorean doctrines. According to Lucian, the division of teachings into exoteric and esoteric originated with Aristotle.

Example sentences

The more esoteric the bug, the harder it is to find and correct.

Even by the standards of alternative investors, this is esoteric stuff.

Once that's been figured out, then maybe they will want to turn their attention

to the more esoteric aspects of life.

First of all let me replace the work esoteric with eclectic.

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hierophant Isma mysterious mystic Rosicrucian secret

Matching Quote

"When theology erodes and organization crumbles, when the institutional framework of religion begins to break up, the search for a direct experience which people can feel to be religious facilitates the rise of cults. A cult differs from a formal religion in many significant ways. It is in the nature of a cult to claim some esoteric knowledge which has been submerged (or repressed by orthodoxy) for a long time but has now suddenly been illuminated. There is often some heterodox figure, mocked or scorned by the orthodox, who presents these new teachings. There are communal rites which often permit or spur an individual to act out impulses that had hitherto been repressed. In the cult, one feels as though one were exploring novel or hitherto taboo modes of conduct. What defines a cult, therefore, is its implicit emphasis on magic rather than theology, on the personal tie to a guru or to the group, rather than to an institution or a creed."

-Daniel Bell