Search Result for "cryptic": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (3)

1. of an obscure nature;
- Example: "the new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms"
- Example: "a deep dark secret"
- Example: "the inscrutable workings of Providence"
- Example: "in its mysterious past it encompasses all the dim origins of life"- Rachel Carson
- Example: "rituals totally mystifying to visitors from other lands"
[syn: cryptic, cryptical, deep, inscrutable, mysterious, mystifying]

2. having a secret or hidden meaning;
- Example: "cabalistic symbols engraved in stone"
- Example: "cryptic writings"
- Example: "thoroughly sibylline in most of his pronouncements"- John Gunther
[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