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mystified

[mis-tuh-fahy]

verb (used with object), -fied, -fy·ing.

to perplex (a person) by playing upon the person's credulity; bewilder purposely.

to involve in mystery or obscurity.

Origin:
1805–15; < French mystifier, equivalent to mysti- (irregular combining form of mystique mystic or mystère mystery¹) + -fier -fy

Related forms

mys·ti·fi·ca·tion, noun

mys·ti·fied·ly, adverb

mys·ti·fi·er, noun

mys·ti·fy·ing·ly, adverb

o·ver·mys·ti·fi·ca·tion, noun

EXPAND

o·ver·mys·ti·fy, verb (used with object), -fied, -fy·ing.

un·mys·ti·fied, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. fool, mislead, elude, puzzle.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Mystified is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

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Example Sentences

Wal-Mart's all-out battle against the relatively minor penalty has mystified and even angered some federal officials.

They were perhaps mystified about why they did not get an invitation to the next step in the process, or ultimately an offer.

The latter pair say they are mystified by what has unfolded.

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Wal-Mart's all-out battle against the relatively minor penalty has mystified and even angered some federal officials.

They were perhaps mystified about why they did not get an invitation to the next step in the process, or ultimately an offer.

The latter pair say they are mystified by what has unfolded.

Mirrors also provide intrigue as mystified monkeys try to find the monkey inside of the mirror.

And the reporter who broke the story remains mystified.

Scientists believe they are closing in fast on the secrets of cancer, a disease that has mystified them for centuries.

The better informed correspondents are mystified by this article.

Such is the speed of innovation that doctors are often mystified about the cause when drug-taking youngsters fall ill.

My son was mystified by the tall trees and the mist.

They were mystified he did not want to build an illegal logging mill.

The question has long puzzled parents and mystified spouses, but it has also increasingly engaged the attention of academics.

Yet many participants were initially mystified about the event's real purpose.

When their numbers began to plummet in the mid-1990s researchers were mystified.

With his right hand he flashed a peace sign at the merry but mystified mob.

But experts said they continued to be mystified by how he transmitted the virus.

Japanese scholars have been mystified for ages about why these tall, slender buildings are so stable.

The sounds made by dune avalanches has mystified people for centuries.

Of course, the whole right-sized banks thing has me sort of mystified.

How and why some structures are demolished by hurricanes while others nearby remain untouched has long mystified scientists.

Astronomers are mystified why this one shined so intensely.

Queens, in a crime that mystified their relatives and neighbors.

Instead they evoke a series of allegorical meanings that would have mystified all but his coterie of young, aristocratic patrons.

So naturally, mystified opera buffs are abuzz with speculation over the.

But the discovery has left paleontologists mystified anew about an important aspect of dinosaur behavior: the way they walked.

Dodson played an intellectual in a rural county whose statistical calculations often mystified other characters.

Still, with fewer people riding bicycles, experts are mystified as to why injuries are on the rise.

We are mystified about how to handle the problem and would be grateful for your suggestions.

Lewis mesmerized, mystified and miffed a circle of obsessed people by writing a devilishly quirky cryptic crossword.

Older residents who have grown up on the island say they are mystified that the young people feel that they are disliked.

COLLAPSE

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

mystify

1814, from Fr. mystifier (1772), a verb formed irregularly from mystique "a mystic," from L. mysticus (see mystic). Related: Mystified; mystifying.

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"She had already allowed her delectable lover to pluck that flower which, so different from the rose to which it is nevertheless sometimes compared, has not the same faculty of being reborn each spring."

-Marquis de Sade

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