mysterious

mysterious

modif.

1. Puzzling

   puzzling, enigmatic, perplexing, strange, baffling, inexplicable, insoluble, unaccountable, inscrutable, confounding, shrouded in mystery; see also difficult 2, unnatural 1.

2. Concerning powers beyond those supposedly natural

   mystic, mystical, occult, mystifying, inscrutable, arcane, transcendental, cabalistic, spiritual, magical, abstruse, dark, veiled, strange, alchemistic, supernormal, necromantic, astrological, unknowable, unfathomable, ineffable, esoteric, numinous, cryptic, oracular, unrevealed; see also magic 1, secret 1.

3. Not generally known

   obscure, hidden, ambiguous; see obscure 1, secret 1.

mysterious is applied to that which excites curiosity, wonder, etc. but is impossible or difficult to explain or solve a mysterious murder; what is inscrutable is completely mysterious and altogether incapable of being searched out, interpreted, or understood the inscrutable ways of God; mystical or mystic applies to that which is beyond ordinary human understanding or perception in connection with religious rites or spiritual experience