mystify

mystify

English

Etymology

From French mystifier, from Ancient Greek μυστικός (mustikós, “secret, mystic”) + Latin -ficare.

Verb

mystify (third-person singular simple present mystifies, present participle mystifying, simple past and past participle mystified)

1. (transitive) To thoroughly confuse, befuddle, or bewilder.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:

     I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.

   Solar eclipses continued to mystify ancient humans for thousands of years.

Related terms

• mysterious
• mystery
• mystic
• mystical
• mysticism
• mystique

Translations

to thoroughly confuse, befuddle or bewilder

German: verblüffen (de), irritieren (de) Polish: zakłopotać, zadziwiać (pl)

Serbo-Croatian: mistificírati (sh) Turkish: afallatmak (tr)

Further reading

• mystify in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• mystify in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• mystify at OneLook Dictionary Search