Esoteric vs Idiosyncratic - What's the difference?
esoteric | idiosyncratic |
intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest, or an enlightened inner circle.
Having to do with concepts that are highly theoretical and without obvious practical application; often with mystical or religious connotations.
Confidential; private.
Peculiar to a specific individual; eccentric.
* 1886 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , ch. 9:
* 1891 , (George MacDonald), The Flight of the Shadow , ch. 12:
* 1982 , Michael Walsh, "
As adjectives the difference between esoteric and idiosyncratic
is that esoteric is intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest, or an enlightened inner circle while idiosyncratic is peculiar to a specific individual; eccentric.esoteric
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- ''The writing in this manual is very esoteric ; I need a degree in engineering just to understand it!
Synonyms
* (understood only by a chosen few or an enlightened inner circle) arcane, recondite * cerebral * secretiveAntonyms
* exotericSee also
* exoterism * metaphysical * occult * paranormal * supernatural * theoreticalAnagrams
*idiosyncratic
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- At the time, I set it down to some idiosyncratic , personal distaste . . . but I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in the nature of man.
- It was no merely idiosyncratic experience, for the youth had the same: it was love!
Music: A Fresh Falstaff in Los Angeles," Time , 26 April:
- British Director Ronald Eyre kept the action crisp; he was correctly content to execute the composer's wishes, rather than impose a fashionably idiosyncratic view of his own.