esoteric Meaning, Definition & Usage

adjective confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle
- a compilation of esoteric philosophical theories

Gr. , fr. inner, interior, comp. fr. in, within, fr. , , into, fr. in. See In.

Designed for, and understood by, the specially initiated alone; not communicated, or not intelligible, to the general body of followers; private; interior; acroamatic; -- said of the private and more recondite instructions and doctrines of philosophers. Opposed to exoteric.
Enough if every age produce two or three critics of this esoteric class, with here and there a reader to understand them. De Quincey.