mysterious

A2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/ UK /mɪˈstɪə̯.ɹi.əs/ See IPA manual

Freq #2946

Meanings

1

adj
Difficult to understand or explain; strange and puzzling.

Why he left without saying goodbye is quite mysterious.
2

adj
Whose origin or identity is unknown.

She received a mysterious phone call early this morning.
3

adj
Deliberately secretive or hard to read.

Stop being so mysterious and just tell me what you want.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · difficult to understand or... enigmatic inexplicable

2 adj · whose origin or identity is... untraceable

3 adj · deliberately secretive or... secretive

More arcane crypticill-definedinenubilable mysterialmysteriosomysticrunishsibyllinesysteriousuncertain

Opposites

known unambiguous unmysteriouswell-defined

Word family

Forms mysteriousness

Derived forms mysteriouslymysteriousnessunmysterious

Related forms ambiguous intriguing mystery strange vague

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

mysterious affinity
an attraction or connection whose cause is difficult to explain

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English *misterius (implied in misteriusly), probably partly from Middle French mystérieux and partly from Latin mystērium + -ous. By surface analysis, mystery + -ous.

*misterius Middle English mystérieux Middle French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# mysterious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/
**IPA (UK):** /mɪˈstɪə̯.ɹi.əs/
**Frequency rank:** 2946

## Meanings
1. Difficult to understand or explain; strange and puzzling.
2. Whose origin or identity is unknown.
3. Deliberately secretive or hard to read.

## Examples
- Why he left without saying goodbye is quite mysterious.
- She received a mysterious phone call early this morning.
- Stop being so mysterious and just tell me what you want.

## Synonyms
- arcane
- cryptic
- enigmatic
- ill-defined
- inenubilable
- mysterial
- mysterioso
- mystic
- runish
- sibylline
- systerious
- uncertain

## Antonyms
- known
- unambiguous
- unmysterious
- well-defined

## Derived Forms
- mysteriously
- mysteriousness
- unmysterious

## Related Forms
- ambiguous
- intriguing
- mystery
- strange
- vague

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *misterius
- Root: mystérieux
- Affix: -ious - full of

## Etymology
From Middle English *misterius (implied in misteriusly), probably partly from Middle French mystérieux and partly from Latin mystērium + -ous. By surface analysis, mystery + -ous.

## AI Etymology
Mysterious comes from Middle English *misterius (implied in misteriusly), probably partly from Middle French mystérieux and partly from Latin mystērium + -ous. By surface analysis, mystery + -ous. In present-day English its meanings include difficult to understand or explain; strange and puzzling, whose origin or identity is unknown, and deliberately secretive or hard to read. The historical chain runs through *misterius (Middle English) and mystérieux (Middle French). Related and derived forms include ambiguous, intriguing, mystery, and mysteriously.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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