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hard to understand; recondite; esoteric:
abstruse theories.
Obsolete. secret; hidden.
Contemporary Examples

More interesting than these abstruse ruminations were her political instincts at the conclusion of the formal broadcast.
Republicans Show Strong Political Instincts Michael Medved June 13, 2011

Historical Examples

It was as if a child had suddenly propounded to an eminent mathematician some abstruse problem in the higher algebra.
The Adventures of Sally P. G. Wodehouse

Ordinary people may fear there is some abstruse science about this.
Albert Durer T. Sturge Moore

Have you indulged in these abstruse philosophical speculations with Spreta?
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 108, February 9, 1895 Various

With scholars and philosophers they held their own in abstruse and abstract discussions.
An American Suffragette Isaac N. Stevens

The point is too technical and abstruse to be discussed here.
The Sayings of Confucius Confucius

And she, following, applied herself to the most abstruse of Art-studies.
Olive Dinah Maria Craik, (AKA Dinah Maria Mulock)

Only an abstruse theologian with a taste for the more recondite niceties of obscure heresies could possibly do justice to it.
Marge Askinforit Barry Pain

“It is full early in the morning for the cryptic and abstruse,” I said.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, May 20, 1914 Various

It is often said that philosophy is a very difficult and abstruse subject.
A Critical History of Greek Philosophy W. T. Stace

adjective
not easy to understand; recondite; esoteric
adj.

1590s, from Middle French abstrus (16c.) or directly from Latin abstrusus “hidden, concealed, secret,” past participle of abstrudere “conceal,” literally “to thrust away,” from ab- “away” (see ab-) + trudere “to thrust, push” (see extrusion). Related: Abstrusely; abstruseness.