Pronunciations (3)
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/ˌɛksə(ʊ)ˈtɛɹɪk/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/ˌɛksəˈtɛɹɪk/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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ˌɛksoˈtɛɹɪk
Adjective
Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations.
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More examples (2)
In one of his works he [Samuel Taylor Coleridge] has ascribed to [Immanuel] Kant the foppery of an exoteric and an esoteric doctrine; and that upon grounds wholly untenable.
Again, it is folly to belittle the significance of the canonical prayer—or exoteric rites in general—out of some presumptuous notion of esoterism. [Frithjof] Schuon repeatedly stresses throughout his writings the indispensable nature of the exoteric framework of formal religion; without this framework, all "esoteric" exercises are doomed in advance to being nothing more than "psychological exploits."
Of a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations. Of a person: not part of an enlightened inner circle; not privy to esoteric knowledge.
Usage- broadly
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Near-synonym: uninitiated
More examples (2)
But of all the Egyptian Inventions, and Pythagoric Practices, nothing pleaſed him [Plato] more than that of the double Doctrine, and the Diviſion of his Auditors into the Exoteric and Eſoteric Claſſes: He more profeſſedly than any other, avovving thoſe Principles, on vvhich that Diſtinction vvas founded, ſuch as,—that it is for the Benefit of Mankind, that they ſhould be often deceived—that there are ſome Truths it is not fit the People ſhould know—that the VVorld is not to be entruſted vvith the true Notion of God: […]
Dr. Goldſmith, being a privileged man, vvent vvith him this night, ſtrutting avvay, and calling to me vvith an air of ſuperiority, like that of an eſoterick over an exoterick diſciple of a ſage of antiquity, "I go to Miſs VVilliams."
Capable of being fully or readily comprehended by the public; accessible; also, having an obvious application.
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More examples (3)
The diſcourſe and doctrine vvhich he [Aristotle] delivered to his Diſciples vvas of tvvo kinds. One he called Exoterick, the other Acroatick. Exoterick vvere thoſe vvhich conduced to Rhetorick, meditation, nice diſputes, and the knovvledge of civill things. Acroatick thoſe in vvhich more remote and ſubtile Philoſophy vvas handled, and ſuch things as pertain to the contemplation of nature, and Dialectick Diſceptations.
[H]e vvill alvvays aſſiſt a careful and accurate examiner in reſcuing the eſoteric purity of his doctrines from that leſs amiable appearance in vvhich their exoteric garb repreſents them.
[F]olk and elite music are closer to each other than they are to popular music. […] [T]he grouping together of folk and elite might be termed relatively esoteric, in contrast to the more exoteric popular forms.
External.
Usage- Archaic
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[M]y Deſign […] is not to Theologize in Philoſophy, but to dravv an Exoterick Fence or exteriour Fortification about Theologie; […]
More examples (2)
Novv ſo it happens, that vvhenever St. Paul's compliance vvith the Jevviſh lavv is mentioned in the hiſtory, it is mentioned in connection vvith circumſtances vvhich point out the motive from vvhich it proceeded; and this motive appears to have been alvvays exoteric, namely, a love of order and tranquillity, or an unvvillingneſs to give unneceſſary offence.
In later times Mercury at Athens was, according to [Karl Otfried] Müller, a Secondary also to Apollo, charged with the exoteric and material parts of several among his functions.
Having wide currency; popular, prevalent.
Usage- Archaic
- Rare
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More examples (2)
[T]he courtiers, who played at divers games in public, had a way of exciting the admiration and amazement of the commoner sort of spectators, by producing heaps of golden counters, and seeming to stake immense sums, when all the time they had previously agreed among one another, that each guinea shoud stand for a shilling, or each hundred guineas for one.—So that in fact, two modes of calculation were used for the initiated and uninitiated, and this isoteric and exoteric practice goes on continually to this hour, among literary performers in the intellectual, as well as among courtiers in the fashionable world.— […]
Such, from sad personal experience and credited prevailing rumor, is the exoteric public conviction about these sublime establishments in Downing Street and the neighborhood,—the esoteric mysteries of which are indeed still held sacred by the initiated, but believed by the world to be mere Dalai-Lama pills, manufactured let not refined lips hint how, and quite unsalvatory to mankind.
Noun
A person who is not part of an enlightened inner circle, and not privy to esoteric knowledge.
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More examples (1)
I am an exoteric—utterly unable to explain the mysteries of this new poetical faith. I only know that it is a faith, which except a man do keep pure and undefiled, without doubt he shall be called a blockhead.
Adjective
suitable for the general public
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writings of an exoteric nature