mystify

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“
He loves to mystify, and writes, without reflecting as to the possible consequences, a number of things which cross his mind, and in which he does not believe, but of which his love of humor forces the expression to his lips.

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. transitive verb To confuse or puzzle mentally. See Synonyms at puzzle.
  2. transitive verb To make obscure or mysterious.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • He refuses to mystify, or overawe, or hypnotize his readers with superscience, fantastic impossibilities and garish language. —  OCTOBER, 1953 Vol
  • If Secretary Clinton goes to Japan and visits the Kamakura Bhuda, I hope she gets briefed on who the heck the Bhuda is - so as not to mystify or insult the people she is visitng on our behalf. —  GetReligion
  • Better approach: If you want to make a compelling case against college, organize, de-mystify, and argue against the three reasons for college.
  • With the ROI for SEO being one of the highest of any marketing initiative, it just makes sense to de-mystify it within the corporate culture. —  Search Engine Land: News About Search Engines & Search Marketing
  • BBC Radio Manchester invited me to help de-mystify Twitter for listeners to the afternoon Becky Want show today. —  Manchester Evening News Blogs
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

mystify:   mystified
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. French mystifier : mystère, mystery (from Latin mystērium; see mystery1) + -fier, -fy.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French mystifier = Portuguese mystificar, irreg. from Greek μυστικός, mystic, + L. -ficare, from facere, make: see -fy.
 

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/ˈmɪstɪfai/
by American Heritage

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