Webster's English Dictionarymystery
1. mys.tery \'mis-t(*-)re-\ n [ME mysterie, fr. L mysterium, fr. Gk myste-rion, fr. (ass]umed) mystos keeping silence, fr. Gk myein to be closed (of eyes or lips) 1a: a religious truth that man can know by revelation alone and cannot full y understand cap 1b: a Christian sacrament; specif : EUCHARIST 1c1: a secret religious rite believed (as in Eleusinian and Mithraic cults) to impart enduring bliss to the initiate 1c2: a cult devoted to such rites 2a: something not understood or beyond understanding : ENIGMA obs 2b: a private secret 2c: the secret or specialized practices or ritual peculiar to an occupation or a body of people 2d: a piece of fiction dealing usu. with the solution of a mysterious crime 3: profound, inexplicable, or secretive quality or character M: MYSTERY applies to what cannot be fully understood by human reason or less strictly to whatever attracts curiosity and speculation but resists or defies explanation; PROBLEM applies to any question or difficulty calling for a solution or causing concern; ENIGMA applies to utterance or behavior that is very difficult to interpret; RIDDLE suggests an enigma or problem involving paradox or apparent contradiction; PUZZLE applies to an enigma or problem that challenges ingenuity for its solution; CONUNDRUM applies to a question whose answer involves a pun or less often to a problem whose solution can only be speculative SYN syn PROBLEM, ENIGMA, RIDDLE, PUZZLE, CONUNDRU 2. mystery n [LL misterium, mysterium, alter. of ministerium service, occu]pation, fr. minister servant - more at MINISTER archaic 1: TRADE, CRAFT archaic 2: a body of persons engaged in a particular trade, business, or profession : GUILD 3: one of a class of medieval religious dramas based on scriptural incident s and usu. centering in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ