mysterious

1. 1.

   of an obscure nature

   “the new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms”

   “a deep dark secret”

   “the inscrutable workings of Providence”

   “in its mysterious past it encompasses all the dim origins of life”

   “rituals totally mystifying to visitors from other lands”

   Synonymscrypticcrypticaldeepinscrutablemystifying

   Similarinexplicable
2. 2.

   having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding

   “mysterious symbols”

   “the mystical style of Blake”

   “occult lore”

   “the secret learning of the ancients”

   Synonymsmysticmysticaloccultsecretorphic

   Similaresoteric

Questions about mysterious

What does mysterious mean?

mysterious means "of an obscure nature". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in mysterious?

mysterious has 4 syllables: my-ster-i-ous. The stress falls on "ster". In IPA it is /mɪˈstɪɹiəs/.

What is another word for mysterious?

Close synonyms include cryptic, cryptical, deep, inscrutable, mystifying. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is mysterious a common word?

mysterious is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.