English Dictionary

MYSTIFICATION

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mystification mean? 

MYSTIFICATION (noun)
  The noun MYSTIFICATION has 3 senses:

1. confusion resulting from failure to understandplay

2. something designed to mystify or bewilderplay

3. the activity of obscuring people's understanding, leaving them baffled or bewilderedplay

  Familiarity information: MYSTIFICATION used as a noun is uncommon.


 Dictionary entry details 


MYSTIFICATION (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Confusion resulting from failure to understand

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

bafflement; befuddlement; bemusement; bewilderment; mystification; obfuscation; puzzlement

Hypernyms ("mystification" is a kind of...):

confusedness; confusion; disarray; mental confusion; muddiness (a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior)

Derivation:

mystify (make mysterious)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Something designed to mystify or bewilder

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("mystification" is a kind of...):

artefact; artifact (a man-made object taken as a whole)

Derivation:

mystify (make mysterious)

mystify (be a mystery or bewildering to)


Sense 3

Meaning:

The activity of obscuring people's understanding, leaving them baffled or bewildered

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

mystification; obfuscation

Hypernyms ("mystification" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Derivation:

mystify (make mysterious)

mystify (be a mystery or bewildering to)


 Context examples 


I can make nothing of this mystification of Scott Eccles.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Besides, I owed you a little mystification, Lestrade, for your chaff in the morning.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One unexpected sentence came from her lips after another, till I got involved in a web of mystification; and wondered what unseen spirit had been sitting for weeks by my heart watching its workings and taking record of every pulse.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I found that my services were constantly called into requisition for the falsification of business, and the mystification of an individual whom I will designate as Mr. W. That Mr. W. was imposed upon, kept in ignorance, and deluded, in every possible way; yet, that all this while, the ruffian—HEEP—was professing unbounded gratitude to, and unbounded friendship for, that much-abused gentleman.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Kill two birds with one stone." (English proverb)

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." (Thomas Haynes Bayly)

"Oppose your affection to find rationality." (Arabic proverb)

"Better a good neighbour than a distant friend." (Dutch proverb)



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