MYSTERY • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Mystery

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/mˈɪstəri/ Listen

noun

Mystery n. (pl. mysteries)

A profound secret; something wholly unknown, or something kept cautiously concealed, and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder; something which has not been or can not be explained; hence, specifically, that which is beyond human comprehension. "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery." "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."

A kind of secret religious celebration, to which none were admitted except those who had been initiated by certain preparatory ceremonies; usually plural; as, the Eleusinian mysteries.

pl. The consecrated elements in the eucharist.

Anything artfully made difficult; an enigma.

Mystery n. (pl. mysteries)

A trade; a handicraft; hence, any business with which one is usually occupied. "Fie upon him, he will discredit our mystery." "And that which is the noblest mystery Brings to reproach and common infamy."

A dramatic representation of a Scriptural subject, often some event in the life of Christ; a dramatic composition of this character; as, the Chester Mysteries, consisting of dramas acted by various craft associations in that city in the early part of the 14th century. ""Mystery plays," so called because acted by craftsmen."

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Etymology of 'Mystery'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Mystery" Quotes from Famous Books

... Tamanac marana, in Maypure macuri.); yet no fixed notions of this poison had reached Europe. The missionaries Gumilla and Gili had not been able to penetrate into the country where the curare is manufactured. Gumilla asserts that this preparation was enveloped in great mystery; that its principal ingredient was furnished by a subterranean plant with a tuberous root, which never puts forth leaves, and which is called specially the root (raiz de si misma); that the venomous exhalations which arise from the manufacture are ...

— Equinoctial Regions of America V2 • Alexander von Humboldt

... the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before. "Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice; Let me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery explore— Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;— 'Tis the wind ...

— The Raven • Edgar Allan Poe

... interest of the public, and as the time slipped along into July, the attention of people all over the land was centered upon the forthcoming contest, and it became the principal subject for comment. The secrecy maintained by both principals as to the kind of aircraft to be used, and the mystery as to identity of the members of the respective crews, only whetted curiosity and interest the more, as the sharp newspaper men knew it would. Every man, woman, and child in the wide world seemed to be eagerly waiting for the moment to come when he or she would see the promised pictures of the ...

— Around the World in Ten Days • Chelsea Curtis Fraser

... all fours," she said with a snap of her fingers. "You could have given me the key to the mystery—such as it is. You could have prevented me from making a fool of myself. You could, ...

— The Mountebank • William J. Locke

... lightly; 'and perhaps if I disentangle your mystery I shall find it to cover—indifference. I hope ...

— The Hand of Ethelberta • Thomas Hardy

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