# mysterious

Pronunciation: say "mi-STEER-ee-uhs" US /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/, UK /mɪˈstɪə̯.ɹi.əs/

## Adjective

1. Having qualities that remain unknown or unexplained.
   - Simple: Having traits or features that people do not fully know about.
   - _The substance had mysterious properties that baffled the chemists._
   - _Travelers spoke of a mysterious island whose nature no one could describe._
2. Behaving in a deliberately evasive or puzzling way.
   - Simple: Acting secretive on purpose, so others cannot figure you out.
   - _The detective stayed mysterious about his real intentions throughout the interview._
   - _Her mysterious replies only made the reporters more curious._
3. Difficult to understand or make sense of.
   - Simple: Hard to understand or explain clearly.
   - _The poem's meaning remained mysterious even after several readings._
   - _Scientists still find the deep ocean a mysterious and largely unexplored place._
4. Having an origin or cause that is not known.
   - Simple: Coming from a source or cause that nobody knows.
   - _Investigators looked into the mysterious fire that destroyed the warehouse._
   - _A mysterious noise kept coming from somewhere beneath the floorboards._

## Origin

From Middle English, probably coming partly from Middle French mystérieux and partly from Latin mystērium plus the suffix -ous; in effect, 'mystery' plus '-ous'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mysterious (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).