Abstruse vs Complicated - What's the difference?
abstruse | complicated |
(obsolete) Concealed or hidden out of the way; secret.
* 1612 , Thomas Shelton (translator), Miguel de Cervantes (Spanish author), The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha , Part 4, Chapter 15, page 500:
* 1667 , , Paradise Lost :
Difficult to comprehend or understand; recondite; obscure; esoteric.
* 1548 , Bishop John Hooper, A Declaration of the Ten Holy Comaundementes of Almygthye God , Chapter 17 Curiosity, Page 218:
* 1748 , David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 13.
* 1855 , , History of Latin Christianity :
Difficult or convoluted.
*
(Biology) Folded longitudinally (as in the wings of certain insects).
(complicate)
As adjectives the difference between abstruse and complicated
is that abstruse is (obsolete) concealed or hidden out of the way; secret while complicated is difficult or convoluted.As a verb complicated is
(complicate).abstruse
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- O who is he that could carrie newes to our olde father, that thou wert but aliue, although thou wert hidden in the most abstruse dungeons of Barbarie; for his riches, my brothers and mine would fetch thee from thence.
- The eternal eye whose sight discerns abstrusest thoughts.
- ...at the end of his cogitacions, fyndithe more abstruse , and doutfull obiections then at the beginning...
- It is certain that the easy and obvious philosophy will always, with the generality of mankind, have the preference above the accurate and abstruse ;
- Profound and abstruse topics.
Usage notes
* More abstruse and most abstruse are the preferred forms over abstruser and abstrusest.Derived terms
* abstrusely * abstrusenessReferences
External links
* * ----complicated
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- It seems this complicated situation will not blow over soon.
- Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
Antonyms
* simpleVerb
(head)- The process of fixing the car engine was complicated by the lack of tools.