Word.ws English Dictionary

esoteric

UK/ˌiː.səʊˈtɛɹ.ɪk//ˌɛs.əˈtɛɹ.ɪk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

esoteric adjective: intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest, or an enlightened inner circle.

Adjective

esoteric (comparative more esoteric, superlative most esoteric)

  1. Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest, or an enlightened inner circle.
    • The writing in this manual is very esoteric; I’d need a degree in engineering just to understand it!
    • In this situation Hitler availed himself of a time-honored device-the use of esoteric language. In all periods of history, when government or society has put limits on public discussion, those who wish to circumvent censorship resort to the use of esoteric language. Exoterically understood, the...1975, Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews 1933-1945
    Antonyms:
    exoteric
  2. Having to do with concepts that are highly theoretical and without obvious practical application; often with mystical or religious connotations.
    • When he spoke to me of esoteric mysteries I wanted to say to him,"Don't give me that spiritual hokum, friend!"1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 278
  3. Confidential; private.
    • an esoteric purpose
    • an esoteric meeting
    Synonyms:
    secretive

Noun

esoteric (plural esoterics)

  1. An esoteric doctrine or treatise; esoteric philosophy.
    Synonyms:
    esotericism
  2. One who believes, or is an initiate, in esoteric doctrines or rites.
    Antonyms:
    exoteric

esoteric meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam

esoteric in Hindi

गूढ़, गूढ़तापूर्ण

esoteric in Tamil

மறைபொருளாகக் கற்பவை, எளிதில் புரியாத

esoteric in Bengali

esoteric, profound
গভীর gobhir

esoteric in Malayalam

obscure, abstruse, arcane
ഗൂഢ, നിഗൂഢമായ, ഗോപ്യമായ, മറഞ്ഞിരിക്കുന്ന, പ്രത്യേകം ചിലർക്കുമാത്രം മനസിലാക്കാവുന്ന, രഹസ്യമായ
More languagesFewer languages
esoteric in Kannada
ಗೂಢ ಮತಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತದ, ಗೂಢತತ್ವದ, ದೀಕ್ಷಿತರಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ತಿಳಿಯುವ, ಅನುಭಾವದ
esoteric in Sanskrit
उपनिषद् upaniṣád
esoteric in Persian
خواصفهم xavâs-fahm, غامض ġâmez

Examples of esoteric in a sentence

  • Once again, he's blegging for more esoteric trivia.
  • The esoteric identity and importance of the Perso-Arabic letter, mim, and its Bengali equivalent, ma, were stressed.
  • The classic version of financière sauce is rather esoteric, a tomato-and-Madeira-flavored brown sauce with elaborate garnishes.

All 33 example sentences with esoteric

Synonyms of esoteric

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of esoteric

Forms of esoteric

Adjective
comparativemore esoteric
superlativemost esoteric
alternative form (obsolete)esoterick
Noun
pluralesoterics

Origin of esoteric

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐσωτερικός (esōterikós, “belonging to an inner circle”), from ἐσωτέρω (esōtérō, “further inside”), comparative of ἔσω (ésō, “within”), from ἐς (es), εἰς (eis, “into”) (the term esoteric referred originally to the secret teachings of Greek philosophers, versus public or exoteric ones).

Words formed from esoteric

Phrases with esoteric

Words that rhyme with esoteric

12 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about esoteric

What does esoteric mean?
Esoteric means intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest, or an enlightened inner circle.
What is esoteric in Hindi?
Esoteric in Hindi is गूढ़, गूढ़तापूर्ण. See Esoteric meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is esoteric?
Esoteric can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce esoteric?
Esoteric is pronounced /ˌiː.səʊˈtɛɹ.ɪk/ (UK).

Words near esoteric in the dictionary

  1. Esopus Spitzenburg
  2. Esopus Spitzenburgs
  3. esorediate
  4. esorediose
  5. ESOs
  6. esoteric
  7. esoteric programming language
  8. esoteric programming languages
  9. esoterica
  10. esoterical
  11. esoterically

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: esoteric (page history and authors); esoteric (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); esoteric (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); গভীর (Bengali) (page history and authors); esoteric (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); esoteric (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); उपनिषद् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “esoteric.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/esoteric. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.