cryptic
mysterious in meaning; puzzling; ambiguous: a cryptic message.
abrupt; terse; short: a cryptic note.
secret; occult: a cryptic writing.
involving or using cipher, code, etc.
Zoology. fitted for concealing; serving to camouflage.
a cryptogram, especially one designed as a puzzle.
Origin of cryptic
1synonym study For cryptic
Other words for cryptic
1 | enigmatic, perplexing |
Other words from cryptic
- cryp·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- non·cryp·tic, adjective
- non·cryp·ti·cal, adjective
- non·cryp·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cryptic in a sentence
Q, who has posted nearly 5,000 cryptic information “drops” online since 2017, has not issued a single message on his home message board of 8kun in 44 days, leading some believers to a crisis of faith.
QAnon believers seek to adapt their extremist ideology for a new era: ‘Things have just started’ | Drew Harwell | January 21, 2021 | Washington PostCryptically, he added that he would like women to have more leadership roles in administrative and pastoral activities.
When asked if Don has given her a beer in the past, Sally replies cryptically, “My father has never given me anything.”
The areas where they overlap are cryptically blurred, impossible to anticipate what monstrosities might come from them.
Great Weekend Reads: December 30, 2011 | Jacob Silverman, Michael Thomsen, Lauren Elkin | December 30, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTIs anyone else reminded of the equally cryptically titled film Like Water for Chocolate?
The announcement says cryptically that there will be a “daily limit” on such access for “some search engines.”
"That's one way for 'em to get blue jeans," said the driver cryptically.
The Penal Cluster | Ivar Jorgensen (AKA Randall Garrett)He replied cryptically that he was an out-and-out phagocyte, and getting more so every time he read a newspaper.
The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson"I repeat zat Golden Rule to myself every night and every morning, Ruthkin," said she, somewhat cryptically.
West Wind Drift | George Barr McCutcheonThe engine bell clanged a warning, and the conductor shouted cryptically.
Desert Conquest | A. M. Chisholm"Mr. Byrd is going to paint me as something without a soul—I think I will dance," she cryptically vouchsafed.
The Nest Builder | Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale
British Dictionary definitions for cryptic
cryptical
/ (ˈkrɪptɪk) /
hidden; secret; occult
(esp of comments, sayings, etc) obscure in meaning
(of the coloration of animals) tending to conceal by disguising or camouflaging the shape
Origin of cryptic
1Derived forms of cryptic
- cryptically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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