Meaning & use
mystery
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Meanings
nouncountable
Something that nobody can explain, understand or find out.
Grammar: Often used with a: it is a mystery to me.
Patterns
- a mystery to someone
- solve a mystery
- remain a mystery
How the cat got onto the roof is a mystery.
The cause of the fire remains a mystery.
Her sudden departure was a mystery to everyone.
nouncountable
A story, film or book about a puzzling event, especially a crime, that is solved at the end.
Grammar: Often in compounds: a murder mystery.
Patterns
- a murder mystery
- a mystery novel
She reads a mystery every weekend.
The detective novel is a classic mystery set on a train.
We watched a mystery with a surprising ending.
noununcountable
The quality of being strange, secret or hard to know.
Grammar: No article; often with an air of: an air of mystery.
Patterns
- an air of mystery
- shrouded in mystery
The old house was shrouded in mystery.
She liked the mystery of the unfinished painting.
A sense of mystery surrounded the new neighbor.
nouncountablereligion
A religious truth or ceremony that people accept by faith but cannot fully understand.
Grammar: Often plural in religion: the mysteries of faith.
Patterns
- the mystery of something
The priest spoke of the mystery of the resurrection.
Theologians have written about the mysteries of faith for centuries.
Pilgrims pray the joyful mysteries on their journey.
Word forms
| plural | mysteries |
|---|
Common combinations
- solve a mystery
- The students tried to solve the mystery of the missing key.
- remain a mystery
- Why the bridge collapsed remains a mystery.
- murder mystery
- The group is performing a murder mystery at dinner.
- shrouded in mystery
- The origins of the ruins are shrouded in mystery.
- a complete mystery
- Her reasons were a complete mystery to me.
Synonyms and how they differ
- puzzle
- A puzzle is a problem designed or expected to be solved, whereas a mystery may never be explained.
- enigma
- Enigma is more formal and describes a person or thing that is hard to understand.
- secret
- A secret is something deliberately hidden, but a mystery may simply be unexplained.
- riddle
- A riddle is a question with a clever answer, while mystery is broader and more serious.
Opposites
Word family
- mysterious adjective
- strange and hard to explain
- mysteriously adverb
- in a way that cannot be explained
- mysteriousness noun
- the quality of being mysterious
- mystic noun
- a person who seeks spiritual truth
- mystify verb
- to confuse or puzzle someone
Commonly confused: mystery or misery?
mystery vs misery
Misery is great unhappiness, but mystery is something unexplained. They look and sound a little alike.
Practice
The cause of the strange noise in the attic remains a ___.
Choose one answer.
Mystery means something unexplained, which fits remains a. Misery, history and majesty have different meanings and do not match the sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mystery”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.