mystic
[mis-tik]
- involving or characterized by esoteric, otherworldly, or symbolic practices or content, as certain religious ceremonies and art; spiritually significant; ethereal.
- of the nature of or pertaining to mysteries known only to the initiated: mystic rites.
- of occult character, power, or significance: a mystic formula.
- of obscure or mysterious character or significance.
- of or relating to mystics or mysticism.
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- a person who claims to attain, or believes in the possibility of attaining, insight into mysteries transcending ordinary human knowledge, as by direct communication with the divine or immediate intuition in a state of spiritual ecstasy.
- a person initiated into religious mysteries.
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Origin of mystic
1275–1325; Middle English mystik < Latin mysticus < Greek mystikós, equivalent to mýst(ēs) an initiate into the mysteries + -ikos -ic; akin to myeîn to initiate, teach
Mystic
[mis-tik]
- a section of Groton, in SE Connecticut: maritime museum.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
mystical, otherworldly, supernatural, occult, imaginary, visionary, magic, spiritual, abstruse, anagogic, arcane, cabalistic, cryptic, esoteric, hidden, impenetrable, inscrutable, magical, metaphysical, mysteriousExamples from the Web for mystic
Contemporary Examples
At Temple, Coltrane no longer operated as a jazz artist improvising melodies, but more like a mystic on a vision quest.
The other night, quite by chance, I came across some lines in Rumi, the 13th-century poet—a Sufi mystic from Persia.
Then bed down in the seaside town of Mystic, Connecticut, with views of the wharf from your private room at the Steamboat Inn.
It revealed his vulnerability to ideas, ideology, and mystic hoo-ha.
"The yuppies are coming," a cop complains in Mystic River, like a 21st-century Paul Revere.
Historical Examples
It is bitter in Baudelaire, sweet and plaintive in Lamartine, mystic in Verlaine.
De ProfundisOscar Wilde
You were in a poppy sleep on the mystic flowers of ancient dreams.
Quaint CourtshipsVarious
There was that mystic depth of expression which comes from ancient Egypt.
The Slave Of The LampHenry Seton Merriman
But they are, above all, the thoughts of a mystic, moving in a Divine presence.
A Writer's Recollections (In Two Volumes), Volume IMrs. Humphry Ward
This, then, was that mystic past against which her figure had stood out!
Cleo The MagnificentLouis Zangwill
mystic
- a person who achieves mystical experience or an apprehension of divine mysteries
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- another word for mystical
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Word Origin
C14: via Latin from Greek mustikos, from mustēs mystery initiate; related to muein to initiate into sacred rites
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for mystic
adj.
late 14c., "spiritually allegorical, pertaining to mysteries of faith," from Old French mistique "mysterious, full of mystery" (14c.), or directly from Latin mysticus "mystical, mystic, of secret rites" (source also of Italian mistico, Spanish mistico), from Greek mystikos "secret, mystic, connected with the mysteries," from mystes "one who has been initiated" (see mystery (n.1)). Meaning "pertaining to occult practices or ancient religions" first recorded 1610s.
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n.
"exponent of mystical theology," 1670s, from mystic (adj.). In Middle English, the noun meant "symbolic meaning, interpretation" (early 14c.).
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Mystic
place name in Connecticut, U.S., deformed from Algonquian missituk "great tidal river," from missi "large" + -tuk "tidal river."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper