mysticism

American  

[mis-tuh-siz-uhm] / ˈmɪs təˌsɪz əm /

noun

• mysticisms
  plural

1. the beliefs, ideas, or mode of thought of mystics.

2. a doctrine of an immediate spiritual intuition of truths believed to transcend ordinary understanding, or of a direct, intimate union of the soul with God through contemplation or ecstasy.

3. obscure thought or speculation.

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mysticism British  

/ ˈmɪstɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

1. belief in or experience of a reality surpassing normal human understanding or experience, esp a reality perceived as essential to the nature of life

2. a system of contemplative prayer and spirituality aimed at achieving direct intuitive experience of the divine

3. obscure or confused belief or thought

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mysticism Cultural  

1. In religion, the attempt by an individual to achieve a personal union with God or with some other divine being or principle. Mystics generally practice daily meditation.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antimysticism
  noun
• nonmysticism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mysticisms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mysticism

First recorded in 1730–40; mystic + -ism

Explanation

Mysticism is a religion or religious belief based on union or communion with a deity, or divine being. Mysticism is what lets you transcend the physical to experience enlightenment — let's just say you'll recognize it when it happens. Mystical, mysterious, and filled with wonder, mysticism is easily associated with crystals, New Age theories, or the occult (the supernatural). The truth is that many faiths, including Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity, have their own forms of mysticism, placing an emphasis on spiritual connection and union, and the mysteries of religion over dogma or rigid rules. Outside of religion, mysticism is applied to cryptic, obscure, or irrational thought — leaning toward mystery and wonder, rather than logic.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mysticism mysticisms

Cats have at least been associated with women and mysticism since ancient Egypt and the goddess Bast, often portrayed as a women’s body with the head of a feline.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Nor is it trying to emulate the high court drama and mysticism of “House of the Dragon,” also scored by Djawadi.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

Hegel was a metaphysician whose insistence that Geist, or spirit, pervades the historical process and moves it to some grand culmination is difficult to distinguish from New Age mysticism, and hence charlatanism.

From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026

Jewelry sellers livestreaming on Taobao report surging sales of crystal bracelets and talismans, products that blend fashion with mysticism.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2025

Strictly speaking, Brahe and Kepler weren’t quite the last mystics—but they certainly were, in astronomy at least, transitional figures between the mysticism of the Ancients and the science of Galileo and his successors.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

When the confirmation of a theory that is already received, and which is doubly attractive by its mysticisms, depends, in some measure, on the result, the experiment becomes still less likely to fail.

From Recollections of Europe by James Fenimore Cooper

They took refuge in the most sombre of mysticisms, or, at least, in dogmatism of the narrowest kind.

From The Renascence of Hebrew Literature (1743-1885) by Nahum Slouschz

From these mysticisms and technicalities of Troubadour and all other poetic guilds Browning decisively detaches his poet.

From Robert Browning by C. H. (Charles Harold) Herford

His brain was becoming too crammed with queries, with strange happenings and with the aggravating mysticisms of the life into which his father's death had thrown him to permit clearness of vision.

From The Cross-Cut by Courtney Ryley Cooper

At all times and in all places, these two mysticisms have given each other the hand.

From Lectures on the true, the beautiful and the good by Victor Cousin