I. |esə|terik, -sō|-, -rēk sometimes |ēs- adjective
Etymology: Late Latin esotericus, from Greek esōterikos, from esōterō (compar. of esō within, from es, eis into, from en in) + -ikos -ic — more at in
1.
a. : designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone
types of music … that demand special training to be perceived and enjoyed, and its devotees form a cult, so that their art is the most esoteric of all arts — John Dewey
a body of esoteric legal doctrine — B.N.Cardozo
her vocabulary wasn't slimed up with offensive bits of esoteric finishing-school slang — R.P.Warren
— opposed to exoteric
b. : difficult to understand : abstruse
there are two kinds of classics, the popular and the esoteric , those that yield their meaning at the first encounter and those that we have to discover by effort and insight — Van Wyck Brooks
passage involving esoteric swordplay — R.L.Taylor
2. : holding esoteric doctrines or engaging in esoteric rites
the esoteric sects, which guard a mystery known only to the initiated — W.L.Sperry
: dealing in or concerned with esoteric matters
an esoteric study
many drivers going through Oak Ridge on their way somewhere else stop to stare at the esoteric factories, that, for better or worse, are shaping their futures — Daniel Lang
the scholarly director of an esoteric local research center called the Institute of Jazz Studies — E.J.Kahn
the museum was an esoteric , occult place in which a mystic language was spoken — Aline B. Saarinen
3.
a. : confined or limited to a small circle
arctic exploration was an esoteric pursuit — E.P.Hanson
lingers in the twilight of an esoteric reputation — H.L.Mencken
b. : private , confidential
some esoteric reason known only to God and himself — Francis Gérard
4. : of special, rare, or unusual interest
many are rather esoteric items such as aluminum duck presses, mechanical duck pluckers, woolen bands to keep the belly and kidney areas warm when hunting in winter — Bill Wolf
they would smoke me out and ask me questions, as though I possessed some esoteric knowledge of a kind not revealed by the guides — Lawrence Dame
if the Requiem seems a bit esoteric and out of the way for a modern conductor, let us take a symphony — P.H.Lang
esoteric colors like taupe or celadon — New Yorker
• es·o·ter·i·cal·ly -rə̇k(ə)lē, rēk-, -li adverb
II. noun
( -s )
1.
[Late Greek esōterikos, from Greek, adjective]
: an initiate in esoteric doctrines or rites
2. esoterics plural : esoteric doctrines or treatises