Words / C2

REK-uh-ndyt/ˈrekəndaɪt/

Recondite means little known and hard to understand — the sort of point that lives in footnotes. It is an honest word for obscure scholarship, not for daily chat; calling a café “recondite” would sound absurd. In speech say obscure or specialised.

Meaning

Little known and hard to understand.

Examples

• “He enjoys recondite books on old grammar.”
• “The essay vanished into recondite legal history.”
• “She has a taste for recondite medieval hymns.”

Good to know

Serious reading / academia. Everyday: obscure.

Near in meaning

obscure

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