Meaning & use
man of mystery
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Meanings
nouncountable
A man whose life, work, or past is deliberately kept secret and who therefore seems intriguing.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a man of mystery' or 'two men of mystery'.
Patterns
- a man of mystery
- be a man of mystery
- the man of mystery behind something
The novelist was a man of mystery who never gave interviews.
Our new neighbor is a real man of mystery; nobody knows where he works.
In the film, a man of mystery arrives in town and changes everyone's lives.
nouncountableliterary
A fictional male character, especially in spy or detective stories, whose true identity is hidden.
Grammar: Often used with 'the' when referring to a specific character.
Patterns
- the man of mystery
- play a man of mystery
The hero is a man of mystery who works for an unnamed agency.
Audiences love a man of mystery in a trench coat.
Word forms
| plural | men of mystery |
|---|
Common combinations
- a real man of mystery
- He's a real man of mystery; even his colleagues don't know his past.
- the man of mystery behind the company
- Reporters tried to identify the man of mystery behind the new startup.
- play a man of mystery
- The actor was hired to play a man of mystery in the thriller.
- a bit of a man of mystery
- My uncle is a bit of a man of mystery; he never talks about his travels.
Synonyms and how they differ
- enigma
- An enigma is a person or thing that is very hard to understand, focusing on the puzzle rather than on deliberate secrecy.
- mystery man
- Mystery man is a more informal, journalistic term for a man whose identity is unknown, often in news reports.
- dark horse
- A dark horse is someone with hidden abilities or a surprising past, used more in politics or competitions than for a mysterious person.
Opposites
Word family
- mysterious adjective
- Hard to explain or understand; full of secrets.
- mysteriously adverb
- In a way that is strange or unexplained.
- mystery noun
- Something that is difficult to understand or explain.
Commonly confused: man of mystery or mystery man?
man of mystery vs mystery man
'Mystery man' is a fixed noun phrase meaning an unidentified man, while 'man of mystery' suggests a person who chooses to keep his life secret.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'man of mystery' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase is 'a man of mystery' with a singular, uncountable-style noun after 'of', and it needs the article 'a'. 'Mysteries' is plural and wrong here, 'mystery of man' reverses the phrase, and omitting 'a' breaks the count noun rule.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “man of mystery”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.