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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
Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 4 Nov. 2024
As Gamache races to decode an unsettling break-in, a cryptic note, and a hit-and-run, a massive threat lurks.
—Staff, The Christian Science Monitor, 21 Oct. 2024
Both artists also dropped cryptic videos from Sydney’s iconic Luna Park before the performance.
—Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 21 Oct. 2024
Its notifications, which follow a format established in 1924, are written in ALL CAPS and filled with cryptic abbreviations.
—Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2024
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 28 Nov. 2024.
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cryptic
adjective
Medical Definition
cryptic
adjective
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