Exoteric refers to something that is widely known, public, or easily understandable. Its antonyms, on the other hand, are more complex and less common. Two antonyms for exoteric are esoteric and abstruse. Esoteric refers to something that is intended to be understood by a small group of people with specialized knowledge, often requiring initiation or extensive study. Abstruse, on the other hand, refers to concepts or ideas that are difficult to understand due to their inherent complexity or obscurity. These two antonyms for exoteric illustrate how language can be used to convey the depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding held by different groups of people.

What are the antonyms for Exoteric?

• adj.

  • all
  • esoteric
  .
  • exterior
  • central
  ,
  • interior
  ,
  • middle
  .
  • noun
  • abstruse
  ,
  • arcane
  ,
  • cabalistic
  ,
  • cryptic
  ,
  • cryptical
  ,
  • deep
  ,
  • kabbalistic
  ,
  • mysterious
  ,
  • mystic
  ,
  • mystical
  ,
  • occult
  ,
  • orphic
  ,
  • qabalistic
  ,
  • recondite
  ,
  • secret
  ,
  • sibylline
  .
  • outer
  • inner
  .

• Other relevant words:

• Other relevant words (noun):
• cerebral
,
• exclusive
.

Usage examples for Exoteric

Famous quotes with Exoteric

• The Tibetan Book of the Dead is ostensibly a book describing the experiences to be expected at the moment of death, during an intermediate phase lasting forty-nine (seven times seven) days, and during rebirth into another bodily frame. This however is merely the exoteric framework which the Tibetan Buddhists used to cloak their mystical teachings. … The esoteric meaning, as it has been interpreted in this manual, is that it is death and rebirth of the ego that is described, not of the body. Lama Govinda indicates this clearly in his introduction when he writes: "It is a book for the living as well as the dying." The book's esoteric meaning is often concealed beneath many layers of symbolism. It was not intended for general reading. It was designed to be understood only by one who was to be initiated personally by a guru into the Buddhist mystical doctrines, into the pre-mortem-death-rebirth experience. These doctrines have been kept a closely guarded secret for many centuries, for fear that naive or careless application would do harm.

  Timothy Leary
• We conclude our analysis of the Rand cult with the observation that here was an extreme example of contradiction between the exoteric and the esoteric creed. That in the name of individuality, reason, and liberty, the Rand cult in effect preached something totally different. The Rand cult was concerned not with every man’s individuality, but only with Rand’s individuality, not with everyone’s right reason but only with Rand’s reason. The only individuality that flowered to the extent of blotting out all others, was Ayn Rand’s herself; everyone else was to become a cipher subject to Rand’s mind and will.

  Ayn Rand

Synonyms:

scuttlebutt, scuttlebutt.