cryptic

cryptic
    adj 1: of an obscure nature; "the new insurance policy is
           written without cryptic or mysterious terms"; "a deep
           dark secret"; "the inscrutable workings of Providence";
           "in its mysterious past it encompasses all the dim
           origins of life"- Rachel Carson; "rituals totally
           mystifying to visitors from other lands" [syn: {cryptic},
           {cryptical}, {deep}, {inscrutable}, {mysterious},
           {mystifying}]
    2: having a secret or hidden meaning; "cabalistic symbols
       engraved in stone"; "cryptic writings"; "thoroughly sibylline
       in most of his pronouncements"- John Gunther [syn:
       {cabalistic}, {kabbalistic}, {qabalistic}, {cryptic},
       {cryptical}, {sibylline}]
    3: having a puzzling terseness; "a cryptic note"
    

Cryptic \Cryp"tic\ (kr[i^]p"t[i^]k), Cryptical \Cryp"tic*al\
   (-t?-kal), a. [L. crypticus, Gr. kryptiko`s, fr. kry`ptein to
   hide.]
   Hidden; secret; occult. "Her [nature's] more cryptic ways of
   working." --Glanvill.
   [1913 Webster]

   2. incomprehensible to those not familiar with the culture or
      jargon; as, the new insurance policy is written without
      cryptic or mysterious terms.

   Syn: inscrutable, mysterious, mystifying.
        [WordNet 1.5]

   3. having a secret or hidden meaning; as, cryptic symbols
      engraved in stone; cryptic writings.

   Syn: cabalistic, occult, secret, sibylline.
        [WordNet 1.5]

   3. having a puzzling terseness; as, a cryptic note.
      [WordNet 1.5]

   4. not evident; unrecognized; as, a cryptic infection.
      [PJC]

   5. written in a code or cipher; as, a cryptic message.

   Syn: encoded, enciphered, encrypted.
        [PJC]
    

82 Moby Thesaurus words for "cryptic":
      abstruse, arcane, between the lines, cabalistic, cabbalistic,
      censored, classified, close, closed, concealed, covert, dark,
      delitescent, dormant, enigmatic, equivocal, esoteric, evasive,
      hermetic, hibernating, hidden, hush-hush, incomprehensible,
      inexplicable, inscrutable, latent, lurking, muffled, murky,
      mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, nebulous, obfuscated,
      obscure, obscured, occult, opaque, perplexing, possible, potential,
      puzzling, recondite, restricted, riddling, secret, secretive,
      sleeping, smothered, sphinxlike, stifled, strange, submerged,
      suppressed, tenebrous, top secret, ulterior, unbreatheable,
      unclear, under security, under the surface, under wraps,
      underlying, undisclosable, undisclosed, undivulgable, undivulged,
      unfathomable, uninformative, unmanifested, unrevealable,
      unrevealed, unspoken, untellable, untold, unutterable, unuttered,
      unwhisperable, vague, veiled, virtual