mystery
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: Catholicism
Christianity
Etymology: From Middle English mysterie, from Anglo-Norman misterie (Old French mistere), from Latin mysterium, from Ancient Greek μυστήριον (mustḗrion, “a mystery, a secret, a secret rite”), from μύστης (mústēs, “initiated one”), from μυέω (muéō, “to initiate”), from μύω (múō, “to shut”). Displaced native Old English ġerȳne.
Inflected forms:
form: mysteries
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The truth behind the events remains a mystery.
The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.
The fate of the railway from Ballater to Braemar has been invested with an air of mystery, which has never been completely dispelled. It has been suggested that Queen Victoria was opposed to a railway in the vicinity of Balmoral Castle, and intervened personally to secure the abandonment of the line beyond Ballater.
gloss: Someone or something with an obscure or puzzling nature.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: That man is a mystery.
Then I had a good think on the subject of the hocussing of Cigarette, and I was reluctantly bound to admit that once again the man in the corner had found the only possible solution to the mystery.
gloss: An account, story, book, film, or play, often with the theme of crime or murder, with a surprise ending that explains all the strange events that have occurred.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A mystery play.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The Moralities displayed something more of art and invention than the Mysteries; in them virtues, vices and qualities were personified, and something like a plot was frequently to be discovered.
gloss: A secret or mystical meaning.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: […] and, not knowing the meaning or misterie of her pollicie, forgat no termes of reproche or rigorous rebuke against his chast doughter.
gloss: A religious truth not understandable by the application of human reason alone (without divine aid).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 1744 (first printed), Jonathan Swift, A Sermon on the Trinity
If God should please to reveal unto us this great mystery of the Trinity, or some other mysteries in our holy religion, we should not be able to understand them, unless he would bestow on us some new faculties of the mind.
gloss: A sacrament.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: There are seven mysteries, or sacraments, in the Greek church, viz. baptism, the chrism (a rite peculiar to this church), the eucharist, confession, ordination, marriage, and the holy oil.
gloss: A secret religious celebration, admission to which was usually through initiation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
in-plural
uncountable
examples: the Eleusinian mysteries
the Mysteries of Mithras
There’s no initiation either into such mysteries.
It is, indeed, part of the ritual of the candidate for adeptship into the British mysteries, resembling that for the neophyte into the Osirian, Cabiric or Orphean mysteries.
gloss: A particular event or series of events in the life of Christ.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The second decade of the Rosary concerns the Sorrowful mysteries, such as the crucifixion and the crowning with thorns.
gloss: A craft, art or trade; specifically a guild of craftsmen.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
examples: The trades, the crafts, the mysteries, would all be losers.
Synonyms: enigma
roun
Related words: mystic
mystical
mysticism
mystify
mystique
Derived words: bag of mystery
bibliomystery
dramystery
Eleusinian Mysteries
locked-room mystery
murder mystery
mysterama
mysteriarch
mysterical
mysteried
mysterious
mysterize
mystery bag
Mystery Bay
mystery box
mystery clock
mystery consumer
mystery cult
mystery guest
mysteryless
mystery meat
mystery meat navigation
mystery-monger
mystery-mongering
mystery play
mystery room
mystery ship
mystery shop
mystery shopper
mystery shopping
mystery snail
mystery tour
mystery watch
nonmystery
sex-mystery
submystery
unmystery
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