[syn: cabalistic, kabbalistic, qabalistic, cryptic, cryptical, sibylline]
3. having a puzzling terseness;
- Example: "a cryptic note"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Cryptic \Cryp"tic\ (kr[i^]p"t[i^]k), Cryptical \Cryp"tic*al\
(-t?-kal), a. [L. crypticus, Gr. kryptiko`s, fr. kry`ptein to
hide.]
Hidden; secret; occult. "Her [nature's] more cryptic ways of
working." --Glanvill.
[1913 Webster]
2. incomprehensible to those not familiar with the culture or
jargon; as, the new insurance policy is written without
cryptic or mysterious terms.
Syn: inscrutable, mysterious, mystifying.
[WordNet 1.5]
3. having a secret or hidden meaning; as, cryptic symbols
engraved in stone; cryptic writings.
Syn: cabalistic, occult, secret, sibylline.
[WordNet 1.5]
3. having a puzzling terseness; as, a cryptic note.
[WordNet 1.5]
4. not evident; unrecognized; as, a cryptic infection.
[PJC]
5. written in a code or cipher; as, a cryptic message.
Syn: encoded, enciphered, encrypted.
[PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
cryptic
adj 1: of an obscure nature; "the new insurance policy is
written without cryptic or mysterious terms"; "a deep
dark secret"; "the inscrutable workings of Providence";
"in its mysterious past it encompasses all the dim
origins of life"- Rachel Carson; "rituals totally
mystifying to visitors from other lands" [syn: cryptic,
cryptical, deep, inscrutable, mysterious,
mystifying]
2: having a secret or hidden meaning; "cabalistic symbols
engraved in stone"; "cryptic writings"; "thoroughly sibylline
in most of his pronouncements"- John Gunther [syn:
cabalistic, kabbalistic, qabalistic, cryptic,
cryptical, sibylline]
3: having a puzzling terseness; "a cryptic note"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
82 Moby Thesaurus words for "cryptic":
abstruse, arcane, between the lines, cabalistic, cabbalistic,
censored, classified, close, closed, concealed, covert, dark,
delitescent, dormant, enigmatic, equivocal, esoteric, evasive,
hermetic, hibernating, hidden, hush-hush, incomprehensible,
inexplicable, inscrutable, latent, lurking, muffled, murky,
mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, nebulous, obfuscated,
obscure, obscured, occult, opaque, perplexing, possible, potential,
puzzling, recondite, restricted, riddling, secret, secretive,
sleeping, smothered, sphinxlike, stifled, strange, submerged,
suppressed, tenebrous, top secret, ulterior, unbreatheable,
unclear, under security, under the surface, under wraps,
underlying, undisclosable, undisclosed, undivulgable, undivulged,
unfathomable, uninformative, unmanifested, unrevealable,
unrevealed, unspoken, untellable, untold, unutterable, unuttered,
unwhisperable, vague, veiled, virtual