1. restricted to or intended for an enlightened or initiated minority, especially because of abstruseness (i.e. not easy to understand) or obscurity.
2. (Greek, those within). Exoteric, those without. The term originated with Pythagoras, who stood behind a curtain when he gave his lectures. Those who were allowed to attend the lectures, but not to see his face, he called his exoteric disciples; but those who were allowed to enter the veil, his esoteric. Aristotle adopted the same terms, though he did not lecture behind a curtain. He called those who attended his evening lectures, which were of a popular character, his exoterics: and those who attended his more abstruse morning lectures, his esoterics.
3. confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle; "a compilation of esoteric philosophical theories"
