Arcane
Arcane adjective - Difficult for one of ordinary knowledge or intelligence to understand.
Usage example: grammatical rules that seem arcane to generations of students who were never taught grammar in the first place
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- complex and arcane
- complex and confusing
- difficult and arcane
- difficult and confusing
- abstruse and arcane
- abstruse and confusing
- unfathomable and arcane
- unfathomable and confusing
- obscure and arcane
- obscure and confusing
- unclear and arcane
- unclear and confusing
- ambiguous and arcane
- ambiguous and confusing
Both words in one sentence
- Second, if it's done poorly it just makes the game mechanics confusing; explaining to the player that, above a certain point, each point of Dexterity only provides 36.74% of the benefit of each previous point makes your game sound arcane and confusing.
Source: Diminishing Returns for Balance - The fact that "Arcane Incarnation" is often abbreviated to "AI" can be a bit confusing when there are also a number of Artificial Intelligence characters in the comic.
Cite this Source
Confusing and Arcane. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 10, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/arcane/confusing
Arcane & Confusing. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/arcane/confusing>.
Confusing or Arcane. 2016. Accessed August 10, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/arcane/confusing.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "arcane" and "confusing" have occurred on timeline