Synonyms and Antonyms of esoteric
1
difficult for one of ordinary knowledge or intelligence to understand
- metaphysics is such an esoteric subject that most people are content to leave it to the philosophers
erudite, learned, scholarly
academic (also academical), pedantic
complex, complicated, hard
darkling, enigmatic (also enigmatical), inscrutable, mysterious, mystic, mystical, orphic, uncanny
impenetrable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, unintelligible
ambiguous, cryptic
unanswerable, unknowable
baffling, bewildering, confounding, confusing, disorienting, mystifying, perplexing, puzzling
easy, facile, simple, straightforward
comprehensible, fathomable, intelligible, understandable
apparent, clear, clear-cut, distinct, evident, lucid, manifest, obvious, perspicuous, plain, transparent
2
not known or meant to be known by the general populace
- must have had some esoteric motive for leaving his art collection to a museum halfway around the globe
classified, restricted, top secret
silent, unadvertised, unannounced, undisclosed, unmentioned, unsaid, untold
clandestine, closet, collusive, conspiratorial, covert
furtive, hugger-mugger, occult, sneak, sneaking, sneaky, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover, underground, underhand, underhanded
personal
closeted, concealed, hidden
repressed, silenced, stifled, suppressed
backstage, offscreen, offstage
well-known
advertised, aired, announced, blazed, broadcast, declared, disclosed, divulged, enunciated, heralded, proclaimed, professed, promulgated, publicized, published, reported, spotlighted
general, popular, prevailing, vulgar
current, prevalent, rife, widespread
communal, shared
