Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not confined to an inner circle of disciples or initiates.
  • adjective Comprehensible to or suited to the public; popular.
  • adjective Of or relating to the outside; external.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • External; open; suitable for or communicated to the general public; popular: originally applied to the public teachings of Aristotle and other ancient philosophers, and sometimes used in a more special sense as opposed to fancied or real esoteric doctrines, See esoteric.
  • Pertaining to the outside; holding an external relation; publicly instructed.
  • In embryology, ectoblastic. See extract under esoteric.
  • noun One admitted only to exoteric instruction; one of the uninitiated.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective External; public; suitable to be imparted to the public; hence, capable of being readily or fully comprehended; -- opposed to esoteric, or secret.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reserves
  • adjective by extension Accessible; capable of being readily or fully comprehended; or, having an obvious application
  • adjective rare Public or popular; having wide currency
  • adjective obsolete External

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective suitable for the general public

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin exōtericus, external, from Greek exōterikos, from exōterō, comparative of exō, outside; see exo–.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin exōtericus, from Ancient Greek ἐξωτερικός (eksōterikos, "external"), adjectival form of ἐξώτερος (eksōteros, "outside").

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Examples

  • For over 50 years (including in the Foreword to my own upcoming book) Smith has distinguished between what he calls the exoteric (outer) aspects of religion and the esoteric (inner).

    Philip Goldberg: Who Says All Religions Are the Same? 2010

  • For over 50 years (including in the Foreword to my own upcoming book) Smith has distinguished between what he calls the exoteric (outer) aspects of religion and the esoteric (inner).

    Philip Goldberg: Who Says All Religions Are the Same? 2010

  • On the other hand the doctrines of what Kûkai classified as exoteric are traced to either what the historical buddha, Śakyamuni, preached or what the celestial buddhas are preaching in the heavenly dimensions.

    Laughter 2009

  • What we may call the exoteric basis of Numaism was a ritual of many ceremonies connected with home-life and agriculture, and designed to keep alive a feeling for the sacredness of these.

    The Crest-Wave of Evolution A Course of Lectures in History, Given to the Graduates' Class in the Raja-Yoga College, Point Loma, in the College-Year 1918-19 Kenneth Morris 1908

  • These outdoor talks were called exoteric, and there gradually grew up esoteric lessons, which were for the rich or luxurious and the dainty.

    Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Philosophers, Volume 8 Elbert Hubbard 1885

  • Churches by John while he yet remained in the body (adhuc in corpore constituto); as (one) Papias by name, of Hierapolis, a beloved disciple of John, has related in his exoteric, that is, in his last five books (in exotericis, id est, in extremis quinque libris); but he wrote down the Gospel at the dictation of John, correctly (descripsit vero evangelium dictante Johanne recte).

    Essays on the work entitled "Supernatural Religion" Joseph Barber Lightfoot 1858

  • The Egyptian theology, or doctrine of the gods, was of two kinds, -- esoteric and exoteric, that is, an interior theology for the initiated, and an exterior theology for the uninitiated.

    Ten Great Religions An Essay in Comparative Theology James Freeman Clarke 1849

  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all best known as exoteric traditions, each with the full array of formal worship, religious law, sacred books, and codes of morality.

    Commonweal Magazine aniitcw 2010

  • Strauss proudly believed in writing at two levels, the "exoteric", which itself would be the layer which contained his own lies, while the deeper truths were to be gleaned by not ignoring any single hinted-at interruption.

    Conservatives Lie 2007

  • The same piece encouraged a leading Jungian to sermonize in rotund eighteenth-century style on the esoteric, as opposed to the exoteric, meaning of the Sea-God Manannan's Crane Bag.

    The Crane Bag Tucker, Alan 1967

Comments

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  • exoteric widely understood

    January 13, 2007

  • Your epic needs echoes Homeric;

    For thrillers use tough talk generic.

    If nonfiction's your game

    Then make it your aim

    Above all to be exoteric.

    May 31, 2016