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Cryptic vs Unknown - What's the difference?

cryptic | unknown | Related terms |

Cryptic is a related term of unknown.


As adjectives the difference between cryptic and unknown

is that cryptic is having hidden meaning while unknown is not known; unidentified; not well known.

As nouns the difference between cryptic and unknown

is that cryptic is (informal) a cryptic crossword while unknown is (algebra) a variable (usually x'', ''y'' or ''z ) whose value is to be found.

cryptic

English

(wikipedia cryptic)

Alternative forms

* cryptick (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having hidden meaning.
  • Mystified or of an obscure nature.
  • * Glanvill
    • Her [nature's] more cryptic ways of working.
  • Involving use of code or cipher/cypher.
  • (zoology) Well camouflaged; having good camouflage.
    • Lonomia caterpillars are extremely cryptic .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (informal) A cryptic crossword.
  • * 1996 , Mary McCarthy, Remember Me (page 85)
    • He settled down to the cryptic in the Independent . He loved his crossword. It kept him mentally active, just as gossip did his wife.
  • * 2009 , Bill Taylor, Building a crossword'' (in ''Toronto Star , 1 February 2009)
    • This writer has been solving cryptics for 40 years and can usually crack Araucaria, though it might take a couple of days.

    Derived terms

    * cryptically * cryptogram

    unknown

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Not known; unidentified; not well known.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown , induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}

    Synonyms

    * anonymous * unfamiliar * uncharted * undiscovered * unexplored * unidentified * unnamed * unrecognized * unrevealed * unascertained * obscure * unsung

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (algebra) A variable (usually x'', ''y'' or ''z ) whose value is to be found.
  • Any fact or place about which nothing is known (as in the phrase "into the unknown").
  • A person of no identity; a nonentity
  • * 1965 , (Bob Dylan), (Like a Rolling Stone)
    • How does it feel
    To be on your own
    With no direction home
    Like a complete unknown
    Like a rolling stone?