mystificationn.
/ˌmɪstᵻfᵻˈkeɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌmɪstəfəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ 1.
a. The action of mystifying someone, or of making a matter, subject, etc., unduly mysterious or confusing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > act of perplexing > [noun]
amazing1530
metagrobolism1693
bothering1774
bepuzzlement1806
mystification1816
mystifying1818
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [noun] > mysterious state or quality > making mysterious
mystification1816
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > [noun] > bamboozling, mystifying
bamboozle1703
bamboozling1709
mystification1816
mystifying1818
bamboozlement1855
1816 tr. V. J. E. de Jouy Paris Chit-chat III. 163 Old recollections..made me an excellent subject for mystification.
1826 J. Gilchrist Lect. 52 Special pleading of advocates, whose main talent is quibbling and mystification.
1874 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 1st Ser. 14 He was punished for assuming a character for purposes of mystification.
1885 Manch. Examiner 10 Apr. 5/2 The whole manifesto..was regarded by the public as a piece of grandiloquent mystification.
1920 E. Wharton Age of Innocence vi. 42 The young girl who was the centre of this elaborate system of mystification remained the more inscrutable for her very frankness and assurance.
1980 N. Abercrombie et al. Dominant Ideol. Thesis v. 150 The ideological mystification of work which the individualistic, dominant culture disseminates.
b. An instance of this; (also) a perplexing person or thing; a puzzle, an enigma.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [noun] > mysterious state or quality > making mysterious > instance of
mystification1817
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > trickery, playing jokes > [noun] > bamboozling, mystifying > instance of
mystification1817
1817 Edinb. Rev. Aug. 382 Having amused himself with a mystification (or what is in England vulgarly called a hoax).
1823 New Monthly Mag. 8 122 Of all the mystifications with which man is acquainted, Voltaire thought life itself the greatest.
1876 W. Black Madcap Violet xv. 138 The sweetheart is impatient of these mystifications, and wishes her to promise to marry him.
1912 ‘Saki’ Unbearable Bassington vi. 99 Comus was to a certain extent as great a mystification as Youghal, but here Elaine was herself responsible for some of the perplexity which enshrouded his character in her eyes.
1989 Cineaste Sept. 17/1 Lawrence later provided conflicting, ambiguous, or half-truthful accounts of the same incidents to biographers and friends, mystifications which only served to enlarge his legend.
2. The condition or fact of being mystified.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun]
mingingOE
riddleOE
cumbermentc1300
willa1325
encumbrancec1330
were1338
perplexitya1393
discomfiturea1425
cumbrancec1460
confuse1483
proplexity1487
perplexion?c1500
amazedness?1520
amazement1553
subversion1558
amaze?1560
perplexednessa1586
confusedness1587
puzzle1599
confusion1600
mizmaze1604
discomfita1616
embarras1627
obfuscation1628
mystery1629
confoundedness1641
puzzledness1662
confuseness1710
puzzlement1731
puzzledom1748
embarrassment1751
puzzleation1767
bepuzzlement1806
conjecture1815
mystification1817
bewilderment1819
perplexment1826
fuddle1827
wilderment1830
discomforture1832
head-scratching1832
baffle1843
posement1850
muddlement1857
turbidity1868
fogging1878
bemuddlement1884
harl1889
befuddlement1905
turbidness1906
wuzziness1942
perplexability1999
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [noun] > mysterious state or quality > making mysterious > state of mystification
mystification1817
1817 W. Scott Let. 1 Jan. (1933) IV. 346 The mystification of those who would see very far into the mill stone is sufficiently diverting.
1839 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz (new ed.) 367 The Tuggs's went to bed..in a state of considerable mystification and perplexity.
1884 F. M. Crawford Rom. Singer (ed. 2) II. i. 4 They never left Italy at all, it seems. I am rather mystified, and I hate mystification.
1952 J. Cheever Jrnls. (1991) 3 In middle age there is mystery, there is mystification... I feel that there has been some miscarriage, some wrong turning, but I do not know when it took place and I have no hope of finding it.
1983 K. Waterhouse In Mood xxvi. 248 He shrugged in comic mystification.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1816