exoterical

Adjective

exoteric (comparative more exoteric, superlative most exoteric)

1. Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations.
   • In one of his works he [Samuel Taylor Coleridge] has ascribed to [Immanuel] Kant the foppery of an exoteric and an esoteric doctrine; and that upon grounds wholly untenable.1823, Thomas De Quincey, “Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected. Letter V.”, in Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected; and Other Papers (De Quincey’s Works...

   Synonyms:

   exoterical

   Antonyms:

   esoteric

   1. (broadly) Of a person: not part of an enlightened inner circle; not privy to esoteric knowledge.
      • Near-synonym: uninitiated
2. Capable of being fully or readily comprehended by the public; accessible; also, having an obvious application.
   • The diſcourſe and doctrine vvhich he [Aristotle] delivered to his Diſciples vvas of tvvo kinds. One he called Exoterick, the other Acroatick. Exoterick vvere thoſe vvhich conduced to Rhetorick, meditation, nice diſputes, and the knovvledge of civill things. Acroatick thoſe in vvhich more remote and...1656, Tho[mas] Stanley, “[Aristotle.] Chap[ter] VI. His School and Manner of Teaching.”, in The History of Philosophy, the Second Volume, volume II, London: […] Humphrey Moseley, and Thomas Dring...

   Synonyms:

   commonplace, exoterical, intelligible, ordinary, simple, straightforward, understandable, apprehensible, clear, limpid

   Antonyms:

   arcane, cerebral, esoteric, inscrutable, unintelligible, abstruse, Chinese, dense, enigmatic, fathomless

3. (archaic) External.
   • [M]y Deſign […] is not to Theologize in Philoſophy, but to dravv an Exoterick Fence or exteriour Fortification about Theologie; […]1662, Henry More, “The Preface General”, in A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr Henry More […], London: […] James Flesher for William Morden, […], →OCLC, , paragraph 4, page vi
4. (archaic, rare) Having wide currency; popular, prevalent.
   • [T]he courtiers, who played at divers games in public, had a way of exciting the admiration and amazement of the commoner sort of spectators, by producing heaps of golden counters, and seeming to stake immense sums, when all the time they had previously agreed among one another, that each guinea...1814, Maria Edgeworth, chapter XXXVI, in Patronage. […], volume IV, London: […] [J. M‘Creery] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 75–76

   Synonyms:

   common, prevailing

See all 6 meanings of exoteric