mysteriousadj.n.
/mᵻˈstɪərɪəs/, U.S. /məˈstɪriəs/ A. adj.† 2. Of a person: dealing with or versed in mysteries; practising occult or esoteric arts. Obsolete.† 4.
1.
a. Full of or fraught with mystery; shrouded in mystery; hidden from human knowledge or understanding; difficult or impossible to explain, solve, or discover; of obscure origin, nature, or purpose.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [adjective]
secrec1386
mystica1398
mystical1516
dark1532
arcane1547
occulta1549
shadowish1561
abstruse1576
cryptical1588
shrouded (also involved, wrapped) in mysterya1616
mysterious1622
mysterial1630
cryptica1638
researched1653
rarefied1662
arcanalc1828
sphinx-like1837
sphinxine1845
abstrusive1848
Sphingine1925
1486 [implied in: 1486 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 55 The tyme of this your misteriusly Obteyning as moost worthi your right not regosly. (at mysteriously adv.)].
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man i. f. 1 In searchyng the true Secresie of this Misterious Science.
1622 T. Dekker & P. Massinger Virgin Martir iv. sig. H2v Turne ore all the volumes Of your mysterious Æsculapian science.
1645 J. Milton Il Penseroso in Poems 43 Som strange mysterious dream.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler viii. 163 And as their breeding, so are their decayes also very mysterious . View more context for this quotation
1719 W. Oldisworth tr. C. Quillet Callipædia (ed. 2) iv. 582 Well verst in State-Craft, the mysterious Trade, They know to gild and paint a pious Fraud.
a1771 T. Gray tr. T. Tasso in Wks. (1814) II. 92 Euphrates' fount, and Nile's mysterious head.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 153 Patrick and Jane had been seen going in at that mysterious door which led to Chiffinch's apartments.
1893 Sat. Rev. 29 July 130 Certain of the chief inhabitants of the village..are discussing at the inn the mysterious death of the Squire.
1935 E. Bowen House in Paris ii. vi. 153 Nothing annoyed her more than to be told that the personality is mysterious; it made her think of Maeterlinck, people in green dresses winding through a blue wood.
1985 J. Berman Talking Cure iv. 91 In affirming the theory of sublimation..Eliot intuits a mysterious relationship between suffering and artistic creativity.
b. Of speech, language, etc.: hard to comprehend, obscure, abstruse.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [adjective]
higheOE
dighela1000
deepc1000
darkOE
starkOE
dusk?c1225
subtle1340
dimc1350
subtilea1393
covert1393
mystica1398
murka1400
cloudyc1400
hard?c1400
mistyc1400
unclearc1400
diffuse1430
abstractc1450
diffused?1456
exquisitec1460
obnubilous?a1475
obscure?a1475
covered1484
intricate?a1500
nice?a1500
perplexeda1500
difficilea1513
difficult1530
privy1532
smoky1533
secret1535
abstruse?1549
difficul1552
entangled1561
confounded1572
darksome1574
obnubilate1575
enigmatical1576
confuse1577
mysteriousa1586
Delphic1598
obfuscatea1600
enfumed1601
Delphicala1603
obstruse1604
abstracted1605
confused1611
questionable1611
inevident1614
recondite1619
cryptic1620
obfuscated1620
transcendent1624
Delphian1625
oraculous1625
enigmatic1628
recluse1629
abdite1635
undilucidated1635
clouded1641
benighted1647
oblite1650
researched1653
obnubilated1658
obscurative1664
tenebrose1677
hyperbyssal1691
condite1695
diffusive1709
profound1710
tenebricose1730
oracular1749
opaque1761
unenlightening1768
darkling1795
offuscating1798
unrecognizable1817
tough1820
abstrusive1848
obscurant1878
out-of-focus1891
unplumbable1895
inenubilable1903
non-transparent1939
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [adjective]
darkOE
murka1400
cloudyc1400
mistyc1400
unclearc1400
obturate?a1425
obscure?a1439
unplain?c1535
obumbilatec1540
abstruse?1549
darksome1574
mysteriousa1586
obstruse1604
muddy1611
unperspicuous1634
clouded1641
imperspicuous1654
cramp1674
unlucid1711
abstract1725
opaque1761
obumbratory1799
darkling1813
sludgy1901
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Lady of May in Arcadia (1598) 574 I might haue purchased the vnderstanding of master Rombus misterious speeches.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Mysterious, darke spoken in a mystery, hard to vnderstand.
1652 R. Boyle Life in Wks. (1772) I. 1 A solid knowledge of that mysterious language..is, I say, somewhat difficult.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 173 God at last To Satan first in sin his doom apply'd, Though in mysterious terms. View more context for this quotation
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 214. ⁋6 That great Philosopher..has couched several admirable Precepts in remote Allusions and mysterious Sentences.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. ii. 39 The sound of his steps..seemed like the mysterious accents of the dead.
1817 P. B. Shelley Mont Blanc iii, in Hist. Six Weeks' Tour 179 The wilderness has a mysterious tongue Which teaches awful doubt.
1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) xxvi. 319 As these words were mysterious, Mrs. Gamp called upon him to explain.
a1902 S. Butler Way of All Flesh (1903) xxix.128 Then there was that awful and mysterious word ‘business’. What did it all mean?
1951 L. G. Green Grow Lovely 90 It is possible that such mysterious names as bafaro, sancord, halfcord and kartonkel are really Malay names.
1997 Mail on Sunday 10 Aug. i. 74/3 It is in Bearnais, a mysterious language which sounds like a Spaniard trying to speak French.
c. Of a person or group of people: whose identity, movements, character, or motives are secret or unknown; enigmatic, elusive, secretive; cultivating or delighting in mystery.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [adjective] > delighting in mystery
mysterious1660
1660 M. Lluelyn To Kings most Excellent Majesty 6 With what Amazement our lost Phansies burn, At this Your ænigmatical Return, Mysterious Prince!
1697 J. Dennis Plot & no Plot iv. i. 44 Indeed all that he does is done in the dusk, and mystically. Oh 'tis a very mysterious person!
1782 F. Burney Cecilia III. iv. iii. 245 Leaving therefore to himself her mysterious son, she wisely resolved to find other employment for her thoughts.
1799 tr. A. Kotzbue Corsicans iii. v. 55 These mysterious people are something more than they appear.
1809 M. Holford Wallace ii. xx. 57 He could not endure the glance austere Of that dark mysterious man!
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. xi. 292 I daresay you have many a time inclined your ear to gossip about the mysterious lunatic kept there under watch and ward.
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule ii. 22 Sheila..is romantic and mysterious, and believes in..dreams.
1925 W. Cather Professor's House i. xvii. 173 They had always known he had a secret, something to do with the mysterious Rodney Blake.
1964 Economist 19 Dec. 1350/2 The Minutemen, a mysterious, probably negligible, vigilante group, has drawn the gloomily righteous conclusion that America has seen its last free election.
1988 R. Basu Hours before Dawn i. 11 He wanted to know more about Mrinal's past, observing that he was mysterious, full of self-proclaimed virtues behind a cloak of secrecy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the occult > [adjective] > instructed or dealing in
curious1549
mysterious1583
initiatea1610
initiated1621
1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. P6 The cornered cappe say these misterious fellows doth signifie..the whole monarchy of the world, East, West, North, & South.
1615 T. Tomkis Albumazar i. i. sig. B Your patron Mercury in his mysterious character, Holds all the markes of th' other wanderers.
1620 J. Melton Astrologaster Ep. Ded. sig. A2 The Misterious Egyptians..would excellently with their Pensils in liuely cullors, limbe forth..the ful shape & portraiture of a Hart, a Lyon, Lamb, or Hare.
1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xlviii. 385 The Flaminal Mists, and mysterious Flamens.
1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub i. 49 Whittington and his Cat, is the Work of that Mysterious Rabbi, Jehuda Hannasi, containing a Defence of the Guemara of the Jerusalem Misna.
1789 E. Darwin Bot. Garden: Pt. II 24 You taught mysterious Bacon to explore Metallic veins.
3. Of or belonging to religious mysteries; relating to that which is divine and hence beyond human understanding.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > mysticism > [adjective]
mistya1382
mystica1382
anagogicc1395
mysterial?a1425
mysticala1513
mysterious1624
gnostic1800
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > mysticism > a mystery > [adjective]
mistya1382
mysterial?a1425
mystic1577
mystical1577
mysterious1624
telestic1662
1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 94 The..Mysterie, or mysterious rite, as the word there vsed properly importeth.
1637 W. Alexander Doomes-day (new ed.) ii. xliv. 34 in Recreations with Muses Th'effronted whore prophetically showne By holy Iohn in his mysterious scrouls.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 750 Haile wedded Love, mysterious Law. View more context for this quotation
1718 Free-thinker No. 52. 1 The Romans learnt, what they knew of this Mysterious Doctrine, from the Etrurians.
1779 W. Cowper in J. Newton & W. Cowper Olney Hymns iii. xv. 328 God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.
1857 P. Freeman Princ. Div. Service II. 14 In almost all cases in which a mysterious truth is propounded by Almighty God for our acceptance.
1881 P. Brooks Candle of Lord xviii. 311 To the Christian, God is mysterious because He is radiant with infinite truth.
a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. ix. 142 Was it not one of the most familiar of God's mysterious ways that people were punished most severely of all for the things that weren't their fault?
1978 I. Kesarcodi-Watson & I. Kesarcodi-Watson tr. V. Lossky Orthodox Theol. ii. 67 The divine order..establishes a certain correspondence between sexuality and cosmic domination of the first couple and the mysterious overcoming in God of duality by the triad.
a. That is due to a mystery. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 599 Though higher of the genial Bed by far, And with mysterious reverence I deem. View more context for this quotation
b. Affected by a sense of mystery. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1896 R. Kipling Captains Courageous i, in McClure's Mag. Nov. 18/2 It makes me feel mysterious to pass that butler's pantry place.
B. n.
With the: that which is mysterious, obscure, or arcane.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun] > instance of
subtletya1387
obscurity1495
difficulty?1504
ambage1520
profundities1582
abstrusity1632
concavity1650
mysterious1836
oracularity1840
Pickwickianism1860
in-reference1967
1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xi. 113 The name [of Mr. Blotton] will be doomed to the undying contempt of those who cultivate the mysterious and the sublime.
a1891 H. Melville Billy Budd x, in Wks. (1924) XIII. 43 The cause..is in its very realism as much charged with that prime element of Radcliffian romance, the mysterious, as any that the ingenuity of the author..could devise.
1923 J. W. Harvey tr. R. Otto Idea of Holy xi. 85 ‘The mysterious’ itself in its dual character as awe-compelling yet all-attracting.
1962 J. Heller Catch-22 xxi. 206 He felt himself in the presence of the mysterious.
1992 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Feb. 21/4 For Kandinsky or Newman, the Matissean affirmation was not enough; painting must push ‘beyond’, to the mysterious, the unnameable.
Phrases
to move (also work) in mysterious ways (also in a mysterious way): (originally of God) to cause things to happen in a manner such that the purpose is not understandable by humanity (although usually expressing faith that there must be a beneficial purpose); (later also of a person, organization, etc.) to act in a puzzling or incomprehensible manner; cf. work v. 3.Originally and frequently with reference or allusion to the hymn by William Cowper (1731–1800) (see quot. 1774).
ΚΠ
1727 J. Craig Spiritual Life 45 Heav'n's Providence walks in mysterious ways, And you must, tamely, follow through the maze.]
1774 W. Cowper in J. Newton 26 Lett. on Relig. Subj. 215 God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.
1830 Church Missionary Record July 154/2 It is true, God moves in a mysterious way, in respect to our Mission in Monrovia.
1841 Satirist 24 Oct. 339/1 [Sir Robert] Peel works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.
1914 H. K. Motherwell Theatre of To-day v. 95 An artist, and especially a painter, moves in mysterious ways.
1972 Skiing Dec. 171 e/3 The Lord works in mysterious ways, his caribou to protect.
1979 New Scientist 17 May 557/2 This is a UK-only programme but uses a French jet engine. The British Ministry of Defence moves in mysterious ways.
2006 Daily Mirror (Nexis) 5 July (Features section) 17 Fate moves in mysterious ways and none stranger than the events of this week.
Compounds
mysterious-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1827 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey III. v. iv. 77 Cups, balls, rings, and other mysterious-looking matters, which generally accompany a conjuror.
1911 F. H. Burnett Secret Garden ix. 78 It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine.
mysterious-spoken adj. rare
ΚΠ
1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xxii. 226 An important-looking, sharp-nosed, mysterious-spoken personage.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1486