mystery

Less common meanings

4. 4
   Bible playnouncountable

   A medieval religious drama enacting biblical stories, also called a mystery play.

   Medieval guilds competed to produce the most elaborate mystery.

   The cycle of mysteries told the whole biblical story from creation to judgment.

   Note

   Medieval stage history sets this word beside its neighbor. George Borrow, in Wild Wales (1862), compares the Mysteries with the Moralities and finds the Moralities more inventive, because they personified virtues, vices and qualities and often had something like a plot. That contrast is the useful one to keep in mind. In this sense the word often appears capitalized and plural, naming the genre as a whole. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • George Borrow wrote Wild Wales, first published in 1862. gutenberg.org
   • Borrow compares Mysteries and Moralities, judging Moralities more inventive and describing their personified virtues, vices and qualities and their frequent plots. gutenberg.org
5. 5
   secret ceremonynounusually plural

   A religious rite held in secret, to which people were usually admitted only through initiation.

   Initiates traveled to Eleusis to take part in the sacred mysteries.

   Ancient Greeks who were initiated into the mysteries at Eleusis swore never to reveal what they had seen.

   Similarrite

   Note

   Here the word stands closest to its Greek root, where the initiated one is meant literally. It is chiefly plural and usually named for a place or god: the Eleusinian mysteries, the Mysteries of Mithras, the Orphean mysteries. Lewis Spence's Mysteries of Britain (1928) extends it to a British tradition. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899) keeps the tie to initiation, speaking of "no initiation either into such mysteries." Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • The word's Greek ancestry includes μύστης, meaning a person who has been initiated. en.wiktionary.org
   • Lewis Spence wrote The Mysteries of Britain, first published in 1928. openlibrary.org
   • Spence applies the term to a British initiatory tradition. en.wiktionary.org
   • Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness, first published in 1899. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quoted fragment occurs in Heart of Darkness in Marlow's speech, explicitly connecting mysteries with initiation. gutenberg.org
6. 6
   life of Jesusnouncountable

   A particular event, or series of events, in the life of Christ or of the Virgin Mary, recalled in devotion, as in the rosary.

   Each mystery of the rosary recalls a moment from the life of Christ or of Mary.

   The sorrowful mysteries center on the suffering and death of Jesus.

   UsageSet names are often capitalized, as in the Sorrowful Mysteries; one episode is a mystery of the rosary.

   Note

   Catholic devotion uses the word for the episodes the rosary is prayed through, gathered into named sets. The Sorrowful mysteries, for instance, include the crucifixion and the crowning with thorns. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The rosary's mysteries are grouped into named sets, including the Sorrowful mysteries. usccb.org
   • The Sorrowful mysteries include the crowning with thorns and the crucifixion. vatican.va
7. 7
   church ceremonynouncountable

   A sacrament; a sacred rite of the Christian church through which grace is given.

   The Orthodox tradition counts marriage among the holy mysteries.

   Communion is received as a mystery in the Eastern churches.

   UsageMostly in Eastern churches, often the holy mysteries; Western churches usually say sacrament.

   Similarsacrament

   Note

   Eastern Orthodoxy's ordinary word for what Western churches call a sacrament. Sir Robert Ker Porter, in his travel sketches of Russia published in 1809, counted seven in the Greek church: baptism, the chrism, the eucharist, confession, ordination, marriage and the holy oil. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Robert Ker Porter wrote travel sketches about Russia published in 1809. archive.org
   • Porter enumerated seven mysteries in the Greek church, with precisely the listed members. archive.org
8. 8
   nounobsoletecountable

   A secret or mystical meaning concealed beneath the surface of a text or sign.

   Note

   The interpreter's sense, now gone from the language: what lay inside a plan or a sign for those who could read it. Geffraie Fenton's 1567 translation of Bandello sets it beside the plain word, in 'the meaning or misterie of her pollicie.' Today say hidden meaning or significance instead. The sense stays close to the Greek root, mústēs 'initiated one', from a verb meaning 'I shut': knowledge closed to outsiders. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

   • The historical sense denotes a secret or mystical meaning. en.wiktionary.org
   • Fenton's translation of tales by Matteo Bandello was published in 1567. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
   • The translation contains the quoted wording, placing 'meaning' beside 'misterie'. en.wiktionary.org
   • The word's Greek ancestry includes mústēs, meaning 'initiated one'. en.wiktionary.org
   • Mústēs derives through a verb meaning 'initiate' from a verb meaning 'shut'. en.wiktionary.org
   • The connection with initiation involves knowledge withheld from outsiders. en.wikipedia.org
9. 9
   nounarchaiccountable

   A craft, art, or trade; in particular, a guild of craftsmen who practice it.

   The trades, the crafts, the mysteries, would all be losers.

   1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

   Note

   Adam Smith still uses it in 1776, in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, as the third of a set: "The trades, the crafts, the mysteries." That company is the best guide to the archaic sense, which means a skilled occupation and, by extension, the body of craftsmen who practice it. Today it belongs to historical writing, and elsewhere most readers will hear "secret" before "trade." Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • Adam Smith wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776. rct.uk
   • Smith places 'mysteries' third after 'trades' and 'crafts'; the quoted words are the opening of a longer sentence. gutenberg.org
   • The archaic sense covers a craft, art or trade and a guild of craftsmen. en.wiktionary.org