Skip to main content
mysteriousness

mysteriousness

1 5.2
A quality of being hard to understand and making people curious
  • noun
  • /mɪˈstɪəriəsnəs/
translation icon : misteriosidad
  • With the mysteriousness of God's plans and purposes.

I think it's like his mysteriousness and he's just, I don't know.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • This gave the bar a certain mysteriousness, a mixture of intimacy and menace.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • The mysteriousness of it was both frustrating and intriguing, like having a secret suitor.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • On the other hand, he liked the idea of her mysteriousness.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The mysteriousness of what was happening frightened them all.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • And I liked the coy mysteriousness about it.

  • Strauss reinforces that mysteriousness in a number of ways.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The mysteriousness of the ancient ruins sparked the tourists' curiosity.

  • People are often drawn to the mysteriousness of the deep ocean.

  • The author's unique style adds a layer of mysteriousness to the plot.

Synonyms

obscurity
vsmysteriousness
5 7.4

Hard to understand or see, making people feel confused

leans more toward producing interest rather than just vagueness
elusiveness
vsmysteriousness
3 7.4

Hard to find or understand

is more about creating curiosity than about being evasive
opacity
vsmysteriousness
2 8.3

How hard something is to understand because it is unclear

is more about evoking curiosity than about semantic obscurity alone
inscrutability
vsmysteriousness
1 9.9

A quality that you cannot understand or know the reasons for

is less absolute, allowing some curiosity rather than total impossibility
unknowability
vsmysteriousness
1 9.9

A quality that makes facts and events impossible to find out or fully understand

is about provoking interest rather than claiming complete inability to be known
inexplicability
vsmysteriousness
1 9.8

A state when something cannot be explained or understood

is about causing interest rather than focusing only on lack of explanation
abstruseness
vsmysteriousness
  • Formal
1 9.9

Difficulty understanding something because it is complex or unclear

focuses more on causing interest than on technical complexity
enigmaticness
vsmysteriousness
9.2

A state of being mysterious and hard to understand

is a broader quality that creates interest beyond mere puzzlement
crypticness
vsmysteriousness
8.9

A quality of being mysterious and hard to understand

is more about general intrigue than deliberate concealment
impenetrability
vsmysteriousness
9.9

Very hard to understand because the ideas are unclear or complicated

is milder, inviting curiosity instead of complete mental blockage
abstrusity
vsmysteriousness
  • Formal
9.9

The quality of being very difficult to understand because it is complex

is less about depth and more about attracting curious attention
reconditeness
vsmysteriousness
  • Formal
9.9

Difficulty understanding something because it is very complex

is broader, stressing curiosity rather than only academic obscurity
opaqueness
vsmysteriousness
  • Formal
8.7

How hard it is to understand something because its meaning is unclear

creates interest and curiosity instead of merely being unclear
obscureness
vsmysteriousness
8.9

State of being hard to understand

is broader and tends to intrigue people rather than only hide things

Antonyms

152 3.0

How easy it is to understand what someone says or writes

146 3.7

Being clear so people can see or understand how something works

How Mysterious

enigma
33 8.1
mysteriousness
1 5.2
mystery
660 4.7
strangeness
12 5.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

mysteriousness = mysterious (transparent) = mystery + ous + ness

Forming a noun with '-ness' from the adjective 'mysterious' to indicate the state or quality is a standard and easily recoverable derivation for learners.

Etymology

Mysteriousness comes from the simpler word mystery, which means 'a secret' or something you cannot explain. Long ago 'mystery' was used for secret events and hidden things, so mysteriousness is the quality of being secret or hard to understand, which makes people curious.