mystery

mystery¹

noun (plural mysteries)

1》 something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain.

    ↘secrecy or obscurity.

    ↘a person or thing whose identity or nature is puzzling or unknown.

2》 a novel, play, or film dealing with a puzzling crime.

3》 (mysteries) the secret rites of an ancient or tribal religion, to which only initiates are admitted.

    ↘archaic the Christian Eucharist.

4》 chiefly Christian Theology a religious belief based on divine revelation and regarded as beyond human understanding.

5》 an incident in the life of Jesus or of a saint as a focus of devotion in the Roman Catholic Church, especially each of those commemorated by one of the decades of the rosary.

Word History

The word mystery entered Middle English via Old French mistere or Latin mysterium. As with the associated word mystic, it ultimately derives from the Greek word mustērion, which has its root in muein 'close the eyes or lips', also 'initiate'. The connection between these two meanings probably arose from secret religious ceremonies in ancient Greece, which were witnessed only by the initiated, who swore never to disclose what they had seen.

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mystery²

noun (plural mysteries) archaic a handicraft or trade.

Origin

ME: from med. L. misterium, contr. of ministerium 'ministry', by assoc. with mysterium (see mystery¹).