mysterious

CEFRB1

/mɪˈstɪə̯.ɹi.əs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Difficult to explain, understand, or know about.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Difficult to understand.

Examples

  • Mona Lisa has a mild but mysterious smile.

  • I always liked mysterious characters more.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Having unknown qualities.

  2. Of unknown origin.

  3. Deliberately evasive or enigmatic.

More examples

In context

  • This place has a mysterious atmosphere.

  • He received a mysterious phone call this morning.

  • Our boss is a mysterious man who hardly ever meets with us.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Despite years of careful investigation, the cause of the strange lights remained blank to the scientists.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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