MYSTIFICATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mystification mean? 

• MYSTIFICATION (noun)
  The noun MYSTIFICATION has 3 senses:

1. confusion resulting from failure to understand

2. something designed to mystify or bewilder

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

  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)