Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To confuse or puzzle mentally. See Synonyms at puzzle.
- v. To make obscure or mysterious.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To perplex purposely; play on the credulity of; bewilder; befog.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To involve in mystery; to make obscure or difficult to understand.
- v. To perplex the mind of; to puzzle; to impose upon the credulity of; to baffle.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be a mystery or bewildering to
- v. make mysterious
Etymologies
- From French mystifier, from Ancient Greek μυστικός (mystikos, "secret, mystic") + Latin -ficare. (Wiktionary)
- French mystifier : mystère, mystery (from Latin mystērium; see mystery1) + -fier, -fy. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I appreciate the clarification, but I don't think your first paragraphs spelled out your own disagreement with Thomas and Scalia, and I don't think that the argument that they are wrong which is what you offer here is the same as the argument that they "mystify" or that they fail to offer reasons which distinguish the position they take here from there general opposition to the use of racial classifications.”
“And so for the president not to pardon him after this while pardoning Mr. Rich, it does kind of mystify me.”
CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: When Is a Presidential Pardon Unpardonable? - January 29, 2001
“[H] adrian be living on, mud and rocks no longer be a physical wall in upper Ruralshire, but like derivatives, the way to take an asset and mystify them so that the common members of Pee can still have voters. on March 26, 2009 at 8: 50 pm | Reply nightjack”
“This nonphysical, heart-soul connection -- a testament to the cohesion of the human spirit -- somehow bridged cultural, language and experiential barriers and continues to mystify and move me in a way that I find difficult to articulate.”
“So they act accordingly, even if their decisions often mystify us.”
Cancellation Watch: How Do You Know if Your Favorite Show Will get Cancelled?
“Would we please try not to mystify thing by posting it again?”
“North Korean students are taught Revolutionary History from elementary school to university, a subject full of tales that mystify and beatify the Kim dynasty, said Jun Myung-ho, a defector based in Seoul, who worked in North Korea's ruling Workers' Party for nine years before escaping to the South in 2004.”
“You can make me angry, mystify me, make me feel stupid, leave me wondering, break my heart, confuse the hell out of me, and insult my intelligence — but the one thing you can't do is bore me.”
“Mr. Dylan's public pronouncements, such as the bizarre, tail-swallowing sentences heard in Martin Scorsese's documentary "No Direction Home" (2005), are larded with indirection (either conscious or un-) and duly charm and mystify his fans.”
“Modern psychology has been wrestling with the vast territory of the human ego for a great while now, and its complexity continues to mystify us.”
The Huffington Post: Ramnath Subramanian: The Bhagavad Gita and the Problem of the Ego
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mystify’.
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grade 3
ability, absorb, act, tive, actual, adopt, advantage, ambition, ancient, arrange, arctic, attitude and 125 more...
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Confusually
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baffle, farrago, confound, befuddle, daze, disorient, discombobulate, stupefy, perplex, mystify, bewilder, boggle and 134 more...
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Ayumi G3
Ability, absorb, accuse, act, active, actual, adopt, advantage, advice, ambition, ancient, approach and 128 more...
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I am : mystified
As in, 'confused' and 'entranced' both.
mystify, entrance, enrapture, puzzle, ensorcell, confound, mesmerize, confuse, bewitch, captivate, beguile, fascinate and 11 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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practice 1
daily practice
enamor, blatant, cornucopia, conspicuously, ensconce, obdurate, plausible, reprieve, gaudy, tawdry, obfuscate, bewilder and 105 more...
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amsstory's list
pretentious, delectable, egomaniacal, lionize, titillate, nebulous, obfuscation, ostentatious, wry, precipice, ethereal, echo and 150 more...
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quandary
conundrums, posers, and baffling situations
quandary, conundrum, baffle, bewilder, snarl, closed book, perplex, imbroglio, mystify, bind, plight, brain teaser and 36 more...
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"You X me."
...where "X" is a transitive verb that describes your effect on my attitude.
Essentially a more succinct version of this song.puzzle, enrage, mystify, intrigue, excite, trouble, worry, disgust, comfort, astonish, impress, confound and 6 more...
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mgoormastic's list
Interesting words used in The Three Musketeers by Dumas.
baldric, auberge, mercer, calotte, apologue, parblue, ma foi, mordieu, ventrebleu, capon, diffident, ingenuous and 58 more...
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GRE 3500 M
machinations, madrigal, maladroit, malady, malaise, malapropism, malcontent, malediction, malefactor, malfeasance, malingerer, mannered and 54 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mystify.
mgoormastic On p.224 of Easton Press's "The Three Musketeers" by Dumas, "mystify" is used in the sense of "to play mind games" or "to mess with someone's mind". Sep 14, 2008