cryptic

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“
But she had become inarticulate --cryptic, to him.

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Having hidden meaning; mystifying. See Synonyms at ambiguous.
  2. adjective Secret or occult.
  3. adjective Using code or cipher.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • And found nothing but two cryptic, and nonincriminating, letters about the sewer pipe company. —  John Sandford - The Empress File
  • Instead of concluding your piece with a cryptic, apparently nostalgic reflection on how democracies "empower" prejudice, why not devote more space to exploring this mystery, which really ought to be the crux of the issue?! —  Nicholas D. Kristof
  • Terse, cryptic, and from a Chinese email address, it read: —  pfblogs.org: The Ad-Free Personal Finance Blogs Aggregator
  • The wording was cryptic, but Mohinder gets powers? —  Home Theater Forum
  • According to this little, cryptic, and quite secretive —  Clipmarks | Live Clips
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

enigmatic ·  curt ·  ambiguous ·  laconic ·  unintelligible ·  emphatic ·  concise ·  confuse ·  pithy ·  explanatory ·  oracular ·  complimentary
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Late Latin crypticus, from Greek kruptikos, from kruptos, hidden, from kruptein, to hide.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Late Latin cryptieus, from Greek κρυπτικός, hidden, from κρυπτός, hidden: see crypt.
 

Pronunciations
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/ˈkrɪptɪk/
by American Heritage

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