mystery

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology

From Middle English mysterie, from Latin mysterium, from Ancient Greek μυστήριον (musterion, a mystery, a secret, a secret rite), from μύστης (mustēs, initiated one), from μυέω (mueō, I initiate), from μύω (muō, I shut).

Noun

mystery (plural mysteries)

  1. Something secret or unexplainable; unknown.
    The truth behind the events remains a mystery.
  2. Someone or thing with an obscure or puzzling nature.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 5, The Hocussing of Cigarette[1]:
      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.
    That man is a mystery.
  3. (Catholicism) A particular event or series of events in the life of Christ.
    The second decade of the Rosary concerns the Sorrowful mysteries, such as the crucifixion and the crowning with thorns.

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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 12:39