Arcane: meaning, example and synonyms
Arcaneadj. Understood by only a few people; mysterious or obscure.
Example
The treaty's key provisions were buried in arcane legal language that even experienced diplomats needed specialists to interpret.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- obscure, esoteric, abstruse, recondite
- Antonyms
- common, familiar, accessible, plain
- Memory tip
- Latin arca = chest: arcane knowledge is locked away.
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Check yourself: Arcane in context
The monk's shorthand is so ______ that only three scholars in the world are believed to be able to decipher it.
Answer: arcane. Writing that only three people can read is arcane. Scanty (meager), anterior (front) and precarious (unstable) don't fit this context.
Tax codes are often criticized as ______, filled with obscure provisions that ordinary citizens cannot understand without hiring a specialist.
Answer: arcane. Rules only specialists can understand are arcane. Ingenious (inventive), disparate (very different) and anterior (front) don't fit this context.