mystify

English

Etymology

From French mystifier, from Ancient Greek μυστικός (mustikós, “secret, mystic”) + Latin -ficare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪstɪfaɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

mystify (third-person singular simple present mystifies, present participle mystifying, simple past and past participle mystified)

1. (transitive) To thoroughly confuse, befuddle, or bewilder.

   Solar eclipses continued to mystify ancient humans for thousands of years.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.

Derived terms

• demystify

Related terms

• mysterious
• mystery
• mystic
• mystical
• mysticism
• mystique

Translations

to thoroughly confuse, befuddle or bewilder

• Bulgarian: озадачавам (bg) (ozadačavam), смущавам (bg) (smuštavam)
• German: verblüffen (de), irritieren (de)
• Polish: zakłopotać, zadziwiać (pl)
• Russian: мистифици́ровать (ru) impf or pf (mistificírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: mistificírati (sh)
• Swedish: mystifiera (sv), förbrylla (sv)
• Turkish: afallatmak (tr)

Further reading

• “mystify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “mystify”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “mystify”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.