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| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | mysterious |
| Synonyms: | Delphian, ambiguous, cryptic, dark, doubtful, enigmatical, equivocal, incomprehensible, indecipherable, inexplicable, inscrutable, obscure, occult, oracular, perplexing, puzzling, recondite, secret, sphinxlike, stickling, stumping, teasing, uncertain, unfathomable, unintelligible |
| Antonyms: | clear, known, obvious, plain |
| Main Entry: | abstruse |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult to understand |
| Synonyms: | Greek to me, abstract, clear as dishwater, complex, complicated, deep, enigmatic, esoteric, heavy*, hidden, incomprehensible, intricate, involved, muddy, obscure, perplexing, profound, puzzling, recondite, subtle, unfathomable, vague |
| Antonyms: | clear, concrete, easy, lucid, obvious, plain, simple |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | ambiguous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | having more than one meaning |
| Synonyms: | clear as dishwater, cryptic, doubtful, dubious, enigmatic, enigmatical, equivocal, inconclusive, indefinite, indeterminate, inexplicit, muddy, multivocal, obscure, opaque, polysemous, puzzling, questionable, tenebrous, uncertain, unclear, unintelligible, vague |
| Notes: | ambiguous is vague by accident or intent; equivocal is vague by intent |
| Antonyms: | clear, definite, explicit, lucid |
| Main Entry: | baffling |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | puzzling |
| Synonyms: | abstruse, bewildering, beyond one, confusing, difficult to understand, enigmatic, hard to understand, incomprehensible, mystifying, over one's head, perplexing, unclear, unfathomable |
| Antonyms: | clear, comprehensible |
| Main Entry: | complex |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult to understand |
| Synonyms: | Byzantine, Daedalean, Gordian, abstruse, bewildering, circuitous, complicated, confused, convoluted, crabbed, cryptic, discursive, disordered, disturbing, enigmatic, entangled, excursive, hidden, impenetrable, inscrutable, interwoven, intricate, involved, jumbled, knotted, knotty, labyrinthine, mazy, meandering, mingled, mixed, muddled, obscure, paradoxical, perplexing, puzzling, rambling, recondite, round-about, sinuous, snarled, sophisticated, tangled, tortuous, undecipherable, unfathomable, winding |
| Notes: | something complex may be well-organized and logically constructed as well as subtle and intricate, while a thing that is complicated will have something irregular, perverse, asymmetrical in addition to fundamental intricacy; complex is more formal and technical (a problem in mathematics is complex) while something like personal life can be complicated |
| Antonyms: | apparent, clear, direct, discernible, easy, evident, obvious, plain |
| Main Entry: | cryptic |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | secret; obscure in meaning |
| Synonyms: | Delphian, Delphic, abstruse, ambiguous, apocryphal, arcane, cabalistic, dark, enigmatic, equivocal, esoteric, evasive, hidden, incomprehensible, inexplicable, murky, mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, occult, opaque, oracular, perplexing, puzzling, recondite, secretive, strange, tenebrous, unclear, unfathomable, uninformative, vague, veiled |
| Notes: | cryptic coloration helps conceal an animal; phaneric coloration makes an animal stand out |
| Antonyms: | clear, obvious, plain, seen, straightforward |
| Main Entry: | dark |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hidden, secret |
| Synonyms: | Delphian, abstruse, anagogic, arcane, cabalistic, complicated, concealed, cryptic, deep, enigmatic, esoteric, intricate, knotty, mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, not known, obscure, occult, puzzling, recondite |
| Antonyms: | apparent, distinct, evident, manifest, plain, visible |
| Main Entry: | difficult |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | complicated; hard to comprehend |
| Synonyms: | abstract, abstruse, baffling, bewildering, complex, confounding, confusing, dark, deep, delicate, enigmatic, enigmatical, entangled, esoteric, formidable, hard to explain, hard to solve, hidden, inexplicable, intricate, involved, knotty, labyrinthine, loose, meandering, mysterious, mystical, mystifying, nice, obscure, obstinate, paradoxical, perplexing, problematical, profound, puzzling, rambling, subtle, tangled, thorny, ticklish, troublesome, unclear, unfathomable, unintelligible, vexing |
| Antonyms: | easy, simple, straightforward, uncomplicated |
| Main Entry: | fine |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | discriminating, exact |
| Synonyms: | abstruse, acute, clear, critical, cryptic, delicate, distinct, enigmatic, esoteric, fastidious, fine-spun, hairline, hairsplitting, intelligent, keen, minute, nice, obscure, petty, precise, pure, quick, recondite, refined, sensitive, sharp, sterling, strict, subtle, tasteful, tenuous, trifling, unadulterated, unpolluted |
| Antonyms: | awkward, crude, uncouth, undiscriminating, unrefined |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
