Abstruse vs Labyrinthine - What's the difference?
abstruse | labyrinthine |
(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. ยง 13.
* 1855 , , History of Latin Christianity :
Physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.
* 1996 , Steen L. Jensen, H. Gregerson. M. H. Shokouh-Amin, F. G. Moody, (eds.), Essentials of Experimental Surgery: Gastroenterology , page 27/4
* 2011 , Lincoln Child, Deep Storm , page 185
Twisting, convoluted, baffling, confusing, perplexing.
*
* 2000 , Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation , page 51
* 2005 , Michael W. Riley, "Plato's Cratylus: Argument, form, and structure", page 103
As adjectives the difference between abstruse and labyrinthine
is that abstruse is (obsolete) concealed or hidden out of the way; secret while labyrinthine is physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.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
* * ----labyrinthine
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- In the pyloric canal, muscular ridges are more fixed than elsewhere and produce quite a labyrinthine surface.
- Crane trotted along the labyrinthine corridors of deck 3, accompanied by a young marine with close-cropped blond hair.
- Any attempt to answer that question would carry us into the labyrinthine corridors of Jefferson's famously elusive mind.
- By coupling "essence" with "name" within a series of contraposed pairs of names, Socrates indicates the point to which he thinks his labyrinthine argument has led so far in the Cratylus .
