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.

---

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

---

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.

---

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

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

Photographer Sebastian Pii is the perfect guide through the bewildering mysticism of Colombian writer-director Augusto Sandino’s debut.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025

But mysticism also holds sway behind the closed door of politics.

From Barron's ● Dec. 21, 2025

Among Freedom Advances’ 151 hopefuls are a former Playboy model, an ex-member of the leftist party that long ruled Argentina and an influencer famous for talking about politics and mysticism on social media.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025

There was no mysticism, no invoking of God, merely a passionate identification of all present with a will to right wrongs.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

He did not deal in "abstractions, or generalized arguments," or vague mysticisms.

From A Wreath of Virginia Bay Leaves Poems of James Barron Hope by Hope, James Barron

Here he soon became disgusted with the mysticisms of the schoolmen.

From The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by White, Ellen Gould Harmon

There are superstitions of the reason and of realism,—the grotesque fancies, mysticisms, and vagaries which prevail, and the diseased gusto for something ultra and outlandish which affects many raw and undisciplined minds.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 55, May, 1862 by Various

But when these mellifluous mysticisms are once translated into "the vulgar tongue" they prove to be, strange to say, easily within the comprehension of the ordinary layman.

From Valere Aude Dare to Be Healthy, Or, The Light of Physical Regeneration by Dechmann, Louis

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 Cooper, James Fenimore