Intended for or designed to be understood only by a select group, known only by a few people; hence, not public, secret, confidential.
→ Synonyms of esoteric include mysterious, impenetrable, inscrutable (word 48 of Level 3), cryptic (KRIP-tik), abstruse (ab-STROOS, word 5 of Level 6), arcane (ahr-KAYN), and recondite (REK-undyt).
Antonyms of esoteric include plain, apparent, accessible, manifest, discernible (word 32 of Level 3), lucid (word 45 of Level 3), and perspicuous (pur-SPIK-yoo-us).
Esoteric comes from a Greek word meaning “inner,” and by derivation means intended for or known only by an inner circle. According to the 1914 edition of the great Century Dictionary, the word esoteric “originally applied to certain writings of Aristotle of a scientific, as opposed to a popular, character, and afterward to the secret…teachings of Pythagoras; hence, [esoteric has come to mean] secret; intended to be communicated only to the initiated.”
Because esoteric refers to that which is secret or understood only by a few select people, in recent years the word has come to be used more generally to mean beyond most people’s knowledge or understanding, highly complex and difficult to comprehend, as an esoteric theory or the esoteric language of computer programming.
Many educated people now use the word in this more general way, and there is nothing wrong with that—except that I suspect most people who use esoteric today are not aware of the word’s original, more specific meaning. Thus, you will have a leg up on them if you keep in mind the precise meaning of esoteric: intended to be communicated only to the initiated.
An esoteric theory is complex and impenetrable because it is designed to be understood only by a select group. An esoteric purpose is secret and mysterious because it is known only by a few chosen people.
The antonym or opposite of esoteric is exoteric (EKS-uh-TER-ik). Exoteric begins with the prefix exo-, which means “outer, outside.” Exoteric means external, popular, of the outside world or open to public view. Exoteric writing is intended for the world at large; it is communicated to or suitable for the general public. Esoteric writing is intended for an inner circle; it is understood only by a few people.
