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ab·struse

(ăb-strs, əb-)

adj.

Difficult to understand; recondite: The students avoided the professor's abstruse lectures.

[Latin abstrūsus, past participle of abstrūdere, to hide : abs-, ab-, away; see AB-¹ + trūdere, to push; see treud- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

ab·strusely adv.

ab·struseness n.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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