recondite
pronunciation
How to pronounce recondite in British English:
UK [ˈrekəndaɪt]
How to pronounce recondite in American English:
US [ˈrɛkənˌdaɪt, rɪˈkɑnˌdaɪt]
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- Adjective:
- difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
Word Origin
- recondite
- recondite: [17] Recondite ‘obscure, abstruse’ means etymologically ‘hidden’. It comes from reconditus, the past participle of Latin recondere ‘hide’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and condere ‘put away, store’ (ultimate source of English condiment [15], literally ‘stored’ or ‘preserved’ food).=> condiment
- recondite (adj.)
- 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.
Example
- 1. We hear from mathematiciansthatbees have practically solved a recondite problem .
- 2. We had to work from material that was both complex and recondite .
- 3. Literature , with its diversified forms and recondite meanings , has long been a tough task for most chinese educators .
- 4. The questions may seem recondite , but the answers matter crucially .
- 5. This property can be used for recondite diagnostic purposes .