Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective
- dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter: a recondite treatise.
- beyond ordinary knowledge or understanding; esoteric: recondite principles.
- little known; obscure: a recondite fact.
adjective
- requiring special knowledge to be understood; abstruse
- dealing with abstruse or profound subjects
1640s, “removed or hidden from view,” from Old French recondit, from Latin reconditus, past participle of recondere “store away, hide, conceal, put back again, put up again, lay up,” from re- “away, back” (see re-) + condere “to store, hide, put together,” from con- “together” (see con-) + -dere “to put, place,” comb. form of dare “to give” (see date (n.1)). Meaning “removed from ordinary understanding, profound” is from 1650s; of writers or sources, “obscure,” it is recorded from 1817.