Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A deep secret; a mystery.
- n. Specialized knowledge or detail that is mysterious to the average person: "knows the arcana of police procedure and the intricacies of litigation” ( George F. Will).
- n. A secret essence or remedy; an elixir.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A secret; a mystery: generally used in the plural: as, the arcana of nature.
- n. In alchemy, a supposed great secret of nature, which was to be discovered by alchemical means; the secret virtue of anything.
- n. A secret remedy reputed to be very efficacious; a marvelous elixir.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A secret; a mystery; -- generally used in the plural.
- n. (Med.) A secret remedy; an elixir.
WordNet 3.0
- n. information known only to a special group
Etymologies
- From Latin. (Wiktionary)
- Latin arcānum, from neuter of arcānus, secret; see arcane. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I see exactly what you mean, and it fits really well with some of my own vaguer concerns with the belief in arcanum that marks out magic realism.”
“In fact, it's precisely because we do not know how it works that we do not rule out the possibility that it does in fact work, the possibility even that others might understand the workings we do not -- hence the term arcanum, with its associations of secret knowledge.”
“Freemasonry were off-shoots of the original Cabala, and that during the past 150 years new associations had been formed, and the parties who had introduced me into their arcanum were a society in affiliation with many others then in existence in different countries.”
“The ministers of the word preach, and would be accepted with the people; take this "arcanum," [the secret] of it, -- pray over it; and it is the only way to have it accepted in the hearts of the people: follow it on with prayer.”
“This is an arcanum which is brought within the range of the understanding by the doctrine of degrees.”
Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom
“A straightforward trivia game with plenty of questions to challenge novices (was Dwayne Wade an All-American...in the '60s?) and gratify experts (did Sam Perkins play at UNC or Memphis?) plus bonuses and achievements to spur you through them, iQ gives you the motivation you need to memorize your NCAA arcanum and show your buds who's boss—or at least finally understand all the fuss about John Wooden.$1, available on iPhone”
“So Dumuzi may become a chimera/arcanum as he transforms into a gazelle in his bid to escape the demons pursuing him, but relative to his society and worldscape he is disempowered, a humble shepherd, a boy crying for his mother — a nobody.”
“There was the arcanum; each yellow grain conduced to my exaltation, and the sum of these grains was the sum of my mightiness.”
“For the reactionary reader, the Modernist narrative, with its ornate structurings, opaque prose, obscure references and so on, is constantly breaching the politeness principles, every erudite arcanum an attempt to elevate those who understand (or who can pass themselves off as understanding) over those who do not.”
“We do not know how the arcanum works, but we don't need to.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘arcanum’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Slam Fodder
Those words that will inevitable end up in a Slam Poem
feel free to challenge me!:)bumptious, gamekeeper, slamily, burbuliatorius, cryptomnesia, paradox, pulchritudinous, mimetic, anhedonia, skelf, rampike, furlough and 84 more...
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Quandary
mare's nest, conundrum, riddle, pickle, stumper, imbroglio, quandary, quagmire, dilemma, puzzle, enigma, arcanum and 4 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, A
abaculus, abacus, abaft, abarticular, abbreviate, abeyance, abiding, anthocyanin, antemeridian, arcane, adjure, adduce and 418 more...
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addendumb's Words
fey, cockshut, redact, beatific, melange, arcanum, rarefied, dissemble, capitulation, detritus, ennui, anodyne and 381 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 996 more...
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Zooey's list
cosmology, consummate, demiurge, paradisiacal, reconnaissance, intransigent, otiose, zeitgeist, coalesce, zeitgeber, absolve, abstruse and 105 more...
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Mystery or Puzzlement
Nouns meaning mystery or puzzlement
arcanum, abstruseness, conundrum, enigma, inscrutableness, perplexity, mystification, occult, cryptogram
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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Keepers
Collected words.
emulous, viand, gymnosophist, sublunary, flibbertigibbet, jeremiad, bastinado, ambuscade, syllogism, peccadillo, hecatomb, mendicant and 65 more...
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.pages
tamerlane, rickett, bastan, barnum, byssus, carys, lyris, vidler, morphos, leafwing, phaon, scudder and 238 more...
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Annsley's list
churlish, bibulous, salt, salty, conjugal, fabulist, maw, primordial, chimera, emetic, surly, excrescence and 228 more...
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2008 Wordlist
Hopefully, I'll be using this site for more than one year. It will be fun then to look back and see what new words I found worthy of notice in any given year.
All words spotted in 2008...longanimity, permalancer, breeder, biodegradable, handicapable, gender-neutral, translator, interpreter, translation, interpreting, kleptocracy, fanfiction and 1598 more...
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Words I have learned that I can't eve...
fillip, tocsin, subfusc, lacuna, popinjay, sylvan, dubiety, doff, mimetic, cogitate, chthonic, neophyte and 134 more...
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Dictionary.com Words of the Days of 2001
1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008
acclimate, stentorian, expeditious, proselytize, equable, sacrosanct, indefatigable, gravid, hyperbole, funereal, flibbertigibbet, vet and 353 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for arcanum.

reesetee Good! It's on my reading list. Aug 19, 2009
chained_bear A fascinating book! Aug 19, 2009