: known or knowable only to a few people : secret
arcane rites
an arcane ritual
Synonyms
Examples of arcane in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The arcane pockets of China’s periphery where the Yi and other minorities live are typically China’s poorest regions, far from the gleaming skyscrapers and bustling ports of Shanghai and Shenzhen.
—
Charlie Campbell, TIME, 9 Jan. 2025
Most projects only calculate technical metrics—precision, recall, AUC, F-score and other arcane measures—that reveal little to nothing about the potential business value.
—Eric Siegel, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
The obfuscation feels like the point, an attempt to make the Count seem truly arcane and unsettling again after a century of filmic depictions.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 24 Dec. 2024
The mind-teasers here require real out-of-the-box thinking, careful observation of the smallest environmental details, and multi-step deciphering of arcane codes.
—Ars Technica, 22 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for arcane 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Charlie Campbell, TIME, 9 Jan. 2025
Most projects only calculate technical metrics—precision, recall, AUC, F-score and other arcane measures—that reveal little to nothing about the potential business value.
—Eric Siegel, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
The obfuscation feels like the point, an attempt to make the Count seem truly arcane and unsettling again after a century of filmic depictions.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 24 Dec. 2024
The mind-teasers here require real out-of-the-box thinking, careful observation of the smallest environmental details, and multi-step deciphering of arcane codes.
—Ars Technica, 22 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for arcane
Dictionary Entries Near arcane
Cite this Entry
“Arcane.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arcane. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share