Cryptic

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  cryptic
       adj 1: of an obscure nature; "the new insurance policy is written
              without cryptic or mysterious terms"; "a deep dark
              secret"; "the inscrutible 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: {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}, {cryptical},
           {sibylline}]
       3: having a puzzling terseness; "a cryptic note"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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