Word for hard-to-understand writing style [duplicate]

Question

I am looking for a word that could be used to describe a writing style that uses lots of uncommon words, making the writing difficult to understand to the everyday reader. It's as if they make an effort to use words from their word-a-day calendar.

Andrew's _______ writing style used so many words I had never seen before, making it very difficult to understand his point.

The word pretentious comes close, but it implies that the writer is intentionally doing so to sound more intelligent than they are. I would like a word that removes intent and only describes the writing, not the writer. I want to allow for the option that the writer is in fact very intelligent and just doesn't realize that other people don't have as large of a vocabulary.

I should also mention that I would prefer a word that doesn't fit this definition itself, so a word (or hyphenated set of words) that is not too uncommon. I'm trying to avoid the irony of using a little-known word to describe someone's use little-known words.

Answer 1

You might call it obtuse:

2b: difficult to comprehend : not clear or precise in thought or expression
_{definition from m-w.com}

Answer 2

“Magniloquent” might work. Whether or not it fits with a good flow, that’s another story.

Using high-flown or bombastic language.

(Oxford online Dictionary)

Answer 3

"Esoteric" is a negative word used to describe any kind of work (writing included) that expects its reader to know a lot of very specific and rarely used concepts or vocabulary, especially in academia. It's used negatively because it implies that the author makes the content so inaccessible and difficult to understand that he/she negates any effect their work would have on the real world.

Ex: Professor Comssa has spent five years working on an esoteric thesis that will never sell more than two copies: One for him, and one for his mother.

Ex: I tried to talk to him, but he used so much esoteric vocabulary that I couldn't understand what he was saying.

Answer 4

The phrase "written in a flowery style," denotes the exact meaning you are looking for.

I'm guessing it's not widely used anymore (or,someone else would have mentioned it) but if you look it up - it's still in the dictionary.

Answer 5

Consider ornate.

(of literary style) using unusual words and complex constructions. OD

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using unusual words and complicated sentences Macmillan

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Of literary or oratorical style: embellished with flowery language or rhetoric; elaborate; extravagant. OED

Answer 6

I have a few synonyms for you to consider.

Obscure: "mysterious, hazy, vague"

Rarefied: "distant from the lives and concerns of ordinary people"

Both of these nicely fit your request by not implying judgement. What is obscure and rarefied to a reader might be clear and commonplace to the writer... or the writer might be a self-aggrandizing elitist; these words don't pass that judgement.

Finally, if you wanted to be rarefied yourself, while describing someone else's obscure style you could use Abstruse. Which is a formal way of saying 'obscure'.

Note: EdwinAshworth brought my attention to an interesting thing. I knew that you could find both 'rarefied' or 'rarified' in the dictionary, but had mistakenly thought that the 'i' form was the more authoritative English spelling. Etymonline hints at a bit of interesting history of 'e to i and back to e' for rarefy. ( Ancient Latin rarefacere > Medieval Latin rarificare > Old French rarefier )