CRYPTIC DEFINITIONS - 9 definitions found
cryptic adj 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"- Rachel Carson; "rituals totally mystifying to visitors from other lands" [syn: cryptic, cryptical, deep, inscrutable, mysterious, mystifying] 2: having a secret or hidden meaning; "cabalistic symbols engraved in stone"; "cryptic writings"; "thoroughly sibylline in most of his pronouncements"- John Gunther [syn: cabalistic, kabbalistic, qabalistic, cryptic, cryptical, sibylline] 3: having a puzzling terseness; "a cryptic note" Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) cryptic adjective Etymology: Late Latin crypticus, from Greek kryptikos, from kryptos Date: circa 1638 1. secret, occult 2. a. having or seeming to have a hidden or ambiguous meaning ; mysterious <cryptic messages> b. marked by an often perplexing brevity <cryptic marginal notes> 3. serving to conceal <cryptic coloration in animals>; also exhibiting cryptic coloration <cryptic animals> 4. not recognized <a cryptic infection> 5. employing cipher or code Synonyms: see obscure • cryptically adverb Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary cryptic A cryptic remark or message contains a hidden meaning or is difficult to understand. He has issued a short, cryptic statement denying the spying charges... My father's notes are more cryptic here. ADJ • cryptically 'Not necessarily,' she says cryptically. ADV: ADV with v English Explanatory Dictionary cryptic ˈkrɪptɪk adj. 1 a obscure in meaning. b (of a crossword clue etc.) indirect; indicating the solution in a way that is not obvious. c secret, mysterious, enigmatic. 2 Zool. (of coloration etc.) serving for concealment. øøcryptically adv. [LL crypticus f. Gk kruptikos (as CRYPTO-)] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Cryptic \Cryp"tic\ (kr[i^]p"t[i^]k), Cryptical \Cryp"tic*al\ (-t?-kal), a. [L. crypticus, Gr. kryptiko`s, fr. kry`ptein to hide.] Hidden; secret; occult. ``Her [nature's] more cryptic ways of working.'' --Glanvill. English Explanatory Dictionary (Synonyms) cryptic ˈkrɪptɪk adj. 1 secret, occult, mystical, hidden, esoteric, mystic, cabbalistic: The sarcophagus was covered with cryptic symbols. 2 obscure, mysterious, unclear, nebulous, vague, inscrutable, recondite, arcane, enigmatic, puzzling: I cannot make head or tail of her cryptic remarks. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 82 Moby Thesaurus words for "cryptic": abstruse, arcane, between the lines, cabalistic, cabbalistic, censored, classified, close, closed, concealed, covert, dark, delitescent, dormant, enigmatic, equivocal, esoteric, evasive, hermetic, hibernating, hidden, hush-hush, incomprehensible, inexplicable, inscrutable, latent, lurking, muffled, murky, mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, nebulous, obfuscated, obscure, obscured, occult, opaque, perplexing, possible, potential, puzzling, recondite, restricted, riddling, secret, secretive, sleeping, smothered, sphinxlike, stifled, strange, submerged, suppressed, tenebrous, top secret, ulterior, unbreatheable, unclear, under security, under the surface, under wraps, underlying, undisclosable, undisclosed, undivulgable, undivulged, unfathomable, uninformative, unmanifested, unrevealable, unrevealed, unspoken, untellable, untold, unutterable, unuttered, unwhisperable, vague, veiled, virtual |
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