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DictionaryRoot: ab-
Latin

ab-

away, off, from

Forms

  • ab-
  • abs- — Expanded Latin form, especially before t.
  • a- — Shortened in some Latin compounds.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *apo, ‘away; off.’

Note

The Greek prefix apo- is a relative from the same older source, not a borrowing from Latin.

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adjective

abstruse

ub-STROOS/əbˈstruːs/

Difficult to understand because of complexity or obscurity.

The reader struggles to understand the abstruse diagram in his technical book.

A thoughtful adult struggles to interpret an open technical book whose visible page contains a dense, abstract network of nested relationships.
Etymology
absLatinaway, off, from
+truseLatinthrust or push

The literal image is something “thrust away,” hence hidden or concealed. Applied to ideas, this became remoteness from comprehension: what is abstruse is difficult for the understanding to reach.

In context

Enhanced Public Domain11:45
of a very abstruse and difficult character he made great progress in metaphysical philosophy and Mathematics
Alexander the Great Biography (Audiobook)

More examples

  • Even experienced readers struggled with the abstruse argument.
  • She enjoys making abstruse mathematics understandable.
  • His answer was too abstruse for a beginner.

Forms

abstruse · more abstruse · most abstruse

Similar words

obscure
Can mean unfamiliar or poorly explained, not necessarily complex.
recondite
Emphasizes specialized knowledge understood by relatively few people.