mysterious
- 01 B1 Intermediate
strange, unknown, or difficult to understand or explain.
relating to or being a mystery; difficult or impossible to understand, explain, or identify.
Simple“A mysterious light appeared in the sky late last night.”
In context“The detectives were baffled by the mysterious disappearance of the painting, as the security alarms had never been triggered.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
behaving in a way that shows you are keeping a secret.
deliberately enigmatic or evasive in behavior or speech, often to provoke interest or hide information.
Simple“He was being very mysterious about where he went last weekend.”
In context“She gave him a mysterious smile and refused to say another word about her plans for the upcoming merger.”
Usageoften used to describe a person's expression or tone of voice
“Hearing about fields full of dead caterpillars enveloped in a mysterious white substance intrigued the South African scientist Letodi Luki Mathulwe.”
“Football is fertile ground for stories of mysterious forces, blamed for everything from missed penalties to decades of failure .”
From Middle English *misterius (implied in misteriusly), probably partly from Middle French mystérieux and partly from Latin mystērium + -ous. By surface analysis, mystery + -ous.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.