cryptic

cryp·tic

adjective \ˈkrip-tik\

Definition of CRYPTIC

1

: secret, occult

2

a : having or seeming to have a hidden or ambiguous meaning : mysterious <cryptic messages>

b : marked by an often perplexing brevity <cryptic marginal notes>

3

: serving to conceal <cryptic coloration in animals>; also : exhibiting cryptic coloration <cryptic animals>

4

: not recognized <a cryptic infection>

5

: employing cipher or code

— cryp·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

Examples of CRYPTIC

1. His instructions were cryptic. He said only to wait until we felt certain the answer was clear.
2. <puzzled by the cryptic e-mail message left on his computer>
3. … his hectic characters either communicate in choppy or cryptic exchanges or rattle on in breathless recitations full of contradictions and asides. —Donna Seaman, Booklist, 15 Mar. 1994
4. Since Hughes's poems contained neither Eliot's footnotes nor Ezra Pound's cryptic orientalism, many critics and editors assumed the poet unintelligent and his work raw or, at best, slight. —Rita Dove, New York Times Book Review, 9 Oct. 1988
5. The remark seemed cryptic to Philip, but when he heard her say it two or three times to different persons, and found that it aroused hearty agreement, he came to the conclusion that it was only obscure to his own intelligence. —W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, 1915

Origin of CRYPTIC

Late Latin crypticus, from Greek kryptikos, from kryptos

First Known Use: circa 1638

Related to CRYPTIC

Synonyms

arcane, mysterious, deep, enigmatic (also enigmatical), impenetrable, inscrutable, mystic, occult, uncanny

Antonyms

accessible, clear, nonambiguous, obvious, plain, unambiguous, unequivocal

Related Words

dark, darkling, fuzzy, murky, obscure, shadowy, vague; ambiguous, equivocal; imponderable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, unintelligible, unsearchable; inexplicable, unaccountable, unexplainable; unanswerable, unknowable; metaphysical, mystical, numinous, supernatural; abstruse, esoteric, recondite; baffling, befuddling, bewildering, confounding, confusing, disorienting, mystifying, perplexing, puzzling

Near Antonyms

fathomable, intelligible, understandable; apparent, clear, evident, manifest, obvious, open-and-shut, palpable, patent, perspicuous, plain, straightforward, transparent, unambiguous, unequivocal, unmistakable

See Synonym Discussion at obscure

Rhymes with CRYPTIC

glyptic, styptic, tryptic

cryp·tic

adjective \ˈkrip-tik\   (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of CRYPTIC

1

: serving to conceal <cryptic coloration in animals>

2

: not recognized <a cryptic infection> <cryptic cases of lead poisoning>

—cryp·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb