cryptic
adjective
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The Mysterious Origins of Cryptic
The history of cryptic starts with kryptein, a Greek word meaning "to hide." Can you uncover other kryptein relatives in English? Not surprisingly, crypt, meaning "underground chamber," is one. The element krypton would be another correct guess, and so would apocrypha, which can mean "writings of dubious authenticity." Kryptein also gave us several words having to do with secret codes, such as cryptogram ("a communication in cipher or code") and cryptography ("the coding and decoding of secret messages"). And cryptocurrency is currency that exists digitally and that relies on computer encryption (secret code) to prevent counterfeiting and fraud.
Synonyms
Examples of cryptic in a Sentence
Donna Seaman, Booklist, 15 Mar. 1994
Since Hughes's poems contained neither Eliot's footnotes nor Ezra Pound's cryptic orientalism, many critics and editors assumed the poet unintelligent and his work raw or, at best, slight.
—Rita Dove, New York Times Book Review, 9 Oct. 1988
The remark seemed cryptic to Philip, but when he heard her say it two or three times to different persons, and found that it aroused hearty agreement, he came to the conclusion that it was only obscure to his own intelligence.
—W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, 1915
His instructions were cryptic. He said only to wait until we felt certain the answer was clear.
puzzled by the cryptic e-mail message left on his computer
Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 6 Jan. 2025
On Monday, the actor shared a cryptic post on his Instagram about his decision to pass on the role of Neo in the original Matrix with a few interesting questions.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 6 Jan. 2025
That leaves open a mystery Smith sparked on Monday with a cryptic Instagram post noting how Smith passed on the starring role of Neo in the original 1999 sci-fi epic The Matrix, directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski.
—Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2025
In a cryptic Instagram post, Smith uploaded a teaser for an endeavor or project related to The Matrix universe.
—Marc Griffin, VIBE.com, 6 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for cryptic 
Dictionary Entries Near cryptic
Cite this Entry
“Cryptic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cryptic. Accessed 19 Jan. 2025.
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cryptic
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cryptic
adjective
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