recondites

Noun

recondite (plural recondites)

1. (rare) 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
2. (rare) 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...

See all 10 meanings of recondite