recondite
Syllables: re·cond·ite/ˈɹɛk(ə)nˌdaɪt/US/ˈɹɛkənˌdaɪt/
recondite adjective: difficult to grasp or understand; abstruse, profound.
Adjective
recondite (comparative more recondite, superlative most recondite)
- Difficult to grasp or understand; abstruse, profound.
- a recondite tractate on alchemy
- But I hope this new Messenger from Heauen doth bring happie tidings of some munificent and liberall Patron to these rauishing (but impouerishing) studies, by whose gracious bountie the most recondite mysteries of this abstruse and diuine science [astronomy] shall at length be manifested.1618 December, John Bainbridge, An Astronomicall Description of the Late Comet: From the 18. of Nouemb. 1618. to the 16. of December following. […], London: Printed by Edward Griffin for Iohn Parker...
- Little known; esoteric, secret.
- [T]here was in the man much learning, and that of the more inward & recondit, a great Antiquary, and one that had a certain large poſſeſſion of Divine and Humane Lawes.1644, J[ohn] B[ulwer], “Certain Cavtionary Notions, Extracted out of the Ancient and Moderne Rhetoricians, for the Compleating of this Art of Manuall Rhetorique, and the Better Regulating the...
- [T]he Apoſtle Paul had taken up many things out of theſe Recondite and Apocryphal Writings.1722, Francis Lee, An Epistolary Discourse, Concerning the Books of Ezra, Genuine and Spurious: But More Particularly the Second Apocryphal Book under that Name, and the Variations of the Arabick...
- Having mastery over one's field, including its esoteric minutiae; learned.
- It is delightful to see this recondite scholar [Thomas Browne]—this contemplative and refining dreamer—in the centre of his happy nor unworthy household.1836 October, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “Art. I.—Sir Thomas Browne’s Works, Including His Life and Correspondence. Edited by Simon Wilkin, F.L.S. 4 vols. 8vo. London: 1836 [book review]”, in The...
- Our musician [Johann Sebastian Bach] rapidly became known far and wide throughout the musical centres of Germany as a learned and recondite composer, as a brilliant improviser, and as an organist beyond rivalry.1884, George T[itus] Ferris, “Bach”, in The Great German Composers (Appletons’ New Handy-volume Series), New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, section I, page 10
- Deliberately employing abstruse or esoteric allusions or references; intentionally obscure.
- They afford a lesson to the modern metaphysical and recondite writers not to overvalue their works.1788, Vicesimus Knox, Winter Evenings, II. v. i. 109
- In the play of Fancy, Wordsworth, to my feelings, is not always graceful, and sometimes recondite.1817, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “The Characteristic Defects of [William] Wordsworth’s Poetry, with the Principles from which the Judgement, that They are Defects, is Deduced—Their Proportion to...
- Hidden or removed from view.
- The Eye is somewhat recondit betweene its Orbite.1649, John Bulwer, Pathomyotomia, ii. ii. 108
- My recondite eye sits distent quaintly behind the flesh-hill, and looks as little as a tomtit's.1796, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Letters, I. 209
- Difficult to see, especially because it is hidden by another structure.
- Recondite, (aculeus) concealed within the abdomen, seldom exposed to view.1825, Thomas Say, Say's Entomol., Glossary, 28
- Avoiding notice (particularly human notice); having a tendency to hide; shy.
- Animals of this class are so recondite in their habits... so little known to naturalists beyond the more common species.1835, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 125, 361
Noun
recondite (plural recondites)
- A recondite (hidden or obscure) person or thing.
- [T]he Duchess, and the dandies, and the member's wife and all the rest of their tribulations, were happily hidden from the view by the towering bouquets of the gold plateau vases at the head of the room. [...] A contra-dance after supper was felt to be a national duty; but behind those fatal vases...1836, [Catherine Gore], chapter VIII, in Mrs. Armytage; or, Female Domination. … In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 134
- Whether subsidence plunged the huge morass, / With vegetation, soil, and trees, en masse— / Or, if the flood had drown'd the boggy all, / As streaming torrents roar'd in surly bawl— / Let dons decide, on whom these points devolve; / Such recondites are truely hard to solve.1863, James Lawson, “The Earth’s Crust”, in The Earth’s Crust; or, Primogenial Scenes, and Other Poems, Edinburgh: Printed for the author by James Adamson & Co., […], →OCLC, part II, page 49
- A scholar or other person who is recondite, that is, who has mastery over his or her field, including its esoteric minutiae.
- Here we have an uncommon acquaintance with the conditions of society in the mass, which, perhaps, some of our recondites would hardly be disposed to expect in the case of a man of a character so eminent and philosophical as [Dugald] Stewart, and addicted to studies removing him so far from the...1856, “The Collected Works of Dugald Stewart, Esq., F.R.S. Edited by Sir William Hamilton, Bart. Volume VIII. Constable and Co., Edinburgh; Hamilton and Co., London. [book review]”, in John Campbell...
- If the administrative economists should adopt the widespread practice of their pedagogue colleagues and express themselves, in major policy papers as elsewhere, in mathematical equations rather than words, administrative prerogative would be reinforced by recourse to the professional recondites....1960, Charles V. Kidd, “The Influence of Scientific and Technological Trends on Administration”, in Edmund N. Fulker, editor, The Influences of Social, Scientific, and Economic Trends on Government...
Verb
recondite (third-person singular simple present recondites, present participle reconditing, simple past and past participle recondited)
- To conceal, cover up, hide.
- Tendons: recondited, and hidde in their Muscle, as if they were in a purse imposed.1578, John Banister, The Historie of Man, Sucked from the Sappe of the Most Approued Anathomistes, in this Present Age, […], London: Printed by Iohn Daye, […], →OCLC, book I, folio 32
- Theſe Species are conveyed to the Brain by the Optick Nerve, and are laid up in the Magazine of the Memory, otherways we ſhould not remember the Object any longer than it is in our Preference; and a remembring of thoſe Objects is nothing elſe but the Fancy's reviewing, or more properly the Soul of...1754, John Fraser, A Treatise Containing a Description of Deuteroscopia, Commonly Called the Second Sight, Edinburgh: [Printed and published by Andrew Simson], →OCLC, page 13
recondite meaning in Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
recondite in Urdu
- عمیق, چھپا, گہرا, غائب, غیرواضح, مخفی
recondite in Malayalam
- abstruse, obscure, arcane
- നിഗൂഢമായ, ദുർജ്ഞേയ, ഗൂഢാർത്ഥമായ, അഗാധമായ, ഗഹ്വര, വെളിവായിട്ടില്ലാത്ത
recondite in Kannada
- ತಿಳಿಯದ, ತಿಳಿವಿಗೆ ನಿಲುಕದ, ಮುಚ್ಚುಮರೆಯ, ಹುದುಗಿದ, ಗಹನವಾದ, ದುರ್ಜ್ಞೇಯ
Examples of recondite in a sentence
- Humanly speaking, it is a more important matter to play the fiddle, even badly, than to write huge works upon recondite subjects.1879–1880, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Steerage Scenes”, in The Amateur Emigrant: From the Clyde to Sandy Hook, Chicago, Ill.: Stone and...
- But I beseech thee, wise Doxodox! instruct me in thy dialectics, that I may embrace thy more recondite lore.1849, Herman Melville, “They Visit One Doxodox”, in Mardi: And a Voyage Thither. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […]...
- While oenophiles resorted to recondite adjectives, whisky nosers spoke the language of everyday life, detecting hints of stale seaweed, or even diesel fuel.2004 September 28, Alexander McCall Smith, chapter 21, in The Sunday Philosophy Club, London: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 224:
- [...] [Victor] Cousin's lectures take their initial cue from the weighty treatises of a remote, recondite thinker named Immanuel Kant; [...]1998, Gene H. Bell-Villada, “Introduction: The Idea, the Phrase, the Problem”, in Art for Art’s Sake & Literary Life: How Politics and...
Synonyms of recondite
Forms of recondite
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more recondite |
| superlative | most recondite |
| Noun | |
| plural | recondites |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | recondites |
| present participle | reconditing |
| past participle | recondited |
| past | recondited |
Words formed from recondite
Questions about recondite
- What does recondite mean?
- Recondite means difficult to grasp or understand; abstruse, profound.
- What is recondite in Urdu?
- Recondite in Urdu is عمیق, چھپا, گہرا. See Recondite meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use recondite in a sentence?
- Humanly speaking, it is a more important matter to play the fiddle, even badly, than to write huge works upon recondite subjects.
- What part of speech is recondite?
- Recondite can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce recondite?
- Recondite is pronounced /ˈɹɛk(ə)nˌdaɪt/ (UK).
Words near recondite in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: recondite (page history and authors); recondite (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); recondite (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); recondite (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-recondite.oga.
Cite this entry: “recondite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/recondite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.