| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | mysterious, obscure |
| Synonyms: | abstruse, academic, acroamatic, arcane, cabalistic, concealed, cryptic, dark, deep, difficult, esoteric, hard, heavy*, hermetic, hidden, involved, little-known, mystic, mystical, occult, orphic, pedantic, profound, scholarly, secret |
| Antonyms: | obvious, plain, simple, straightforward |
| Main Entry: | abstruse |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult to understand |
| Synonyms: | Greek to me, abstract, clear as dishwater, complex, complicated, deep, enigmatic, esoteric, heavy*, hidden, incomprehensible, intricate, involved, muddy, obscure, perplexing, profound, puzzling, recondite, subtle, unfathomable, vague |
| Antonyms: | clear, concrete, easy, lucid, obvious, plain, simple |
| Main Entry: | arcane |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hidden, secret |
| Synonyms: | cabalistic, esoteric, impenetrable, mysterious, mystic, occult, recondite, unaccountable, unknowable |
| Antonyms: | common, commonplace, known, normal, outward |
| Main Entry: | cerebral |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | using one's brain |
| Synonyms: | analytical, brainy, deep, erudite, intellectual, intelligent, recondite, scholarly, smart |
| Main Entry: | complex |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult to understand |
| Synonyms: | Byzantine, Daedalean, Gordian, abstruse, bewildering, circuitous, complicated, confused, convoluted, crabbed, cryptic, discursive, disordered, disturbing, enigmatic, entangled, excursive, hidden, impenetrable, inscrutable, interwoven, intricate, involved, jumbled, knotted, knotty, labyrinthine, mazy, meandering, mingled, mixed, muddled, obscure, paradoxical, perplexing, puzzling, rambling, recondite, round-about, sinuous, snarled, sophisticated, tangled, tortuous, undecipherable, unfathomable, winding |
| Notes: | something complex may be well-organized and logically constructed as well as subtle and intricate, while a thing that is complicated will have something irregular, perverse, asymmetrical in addition to fundamental intricacy; complex is more formal and technical (a problem in mathematics is complex) while something like personal life can be complicated |
| Antonyms: | apparent, clear, direct, discernible, easy, evident, obvious, plain |
| Main Entry: | complicated |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult, complex |
| Synonyms: | Byzantine, Daedalean, Gordian, abstruse, arduous, can of worms, convoluted, difficult, elaborate, entangled, fancy, gasser, hard, hi-tech, interlaced, intricate, involved, knotty, labyrinthine, mega factor, mixed, perplexing, problematic, puzzling, recondite, sophisticated, troublesome, various, wheels within wheels |
| Notes: | something complex may be well-organized and logically constructed as well as subtle and intricate, while a thing that is complicated will have something irregular, perverse, asymmetrical in addition to fundamental intricacy; complex is more formal and technical (a problem in mathematics is complex) while something like personal life can be complicated |
| Antonyms: | easy, facile, simple |
| Main Entry: | concealed |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hidden, secret |
| Synonyms: | buried, cached, camouflaged, covered, covered up, covert, enshrouded, guarded, holed up, hush-hush, hushed up, incog, incognito, inconspicuous, masked, obscure, obscured, on the Q. T., perdu, planted, privy, put in the hole, recondite, screened, secreted, shrouded, stashed, tucked away, ulterior, under wraps, unseen, veiled |
| Antonyms: | bare, clear, disclosed, exposed, obvious, open, plain, revealed, shown, told, uncovered |
| Main Entry: | cryptic |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | secret; obscure in meaning |
| Synonyms: | Delphian, Delphic, abstruse, ambiguous, apocryphal, arcane, cabalistic, dark, enigmatic, equivocal, esoteric, evasive, hidden, incomprehensible, inexplicable, murky, mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, occult, opaque, oracular, perplexing, puzzling, recondite, secretive, strange, tenebrous, unclear, unfathomable, uninformative, vague, veiled |
| Notes: | cryptic coloration helps conceal an animal; phaneric coloration makes an animal stand out |
| Antonyms: | clear, obvious, plain, seen, straightforward |
| Main Entry: | dark |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hidden, secret |
| Synonyms: | Delphian, abstruse, anagogic, arcane, cabalistic, complicated, concealed, cryptic, deep, enigmatic, esoteric, intricate, knotty, mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, not known, obscure, occult, puzzling, recondite |
| Antonyms: | apparent, distinct, evident, manifest, plain, visible |