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Definition of mystic in English:

mystic

Pronunciation /ˈmistik/ /ˈmɪstɪk/

Translate mystic into Spanish

noun

  • A person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or who believes in the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect.

    ‘the poetry of the 16th-century Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross’
    • ‘Like the monastics and mystics at their best, Bondi has a gift for seeing God everywhere.’
    • ‘Freeman, like numerous mystics and contemplatives before him, shows us that our main problem is ourselves.’
    • ‘Through the ages Christian mystics have also pursued joy through ascetic, rather than ecstatic, disciplines.’
    • ‘He quotes abundantly from Scripture, medieval mystics and gifted contemporary writers.’
    • ‘Jung's experience was similar to that undergone by shamans and religious mystics, as well as some artists, writers, and philosophers.’
    • ‘Your positions on religion, mystics, psychics, new age medicine, etc. are a breath of fresh air.’
    • ‘In this view, many religious magicians are not mystics.’
    • ‘Some Christian mystics champion this view, but orthodox theologians rejected it early on.’
    • ‘To be sure, no priest with a decent theological training would want to suggest that any or all his parishioners can become mystics or visionaries.’
    • ‘Remember, these were humble tradesmen, not high-powered rabbis or mystics.’
    • ‘The words of later Hebrew mystics capture accurately prophetic consciousness.’
    • ‘College undergraduates are not the only people who respond to Christian women mystics in this way.’
    • ‘Probably not a direct relationship, but it's interesting to look at some of the great contemporary mystics.’
    • ‘Are they behind the mysterious powers of fortune-tellers, mystics, clairvoyants, and palm readers?’
    • ‘Most women writers were dismissed as mystics or visionaries, and some as mentally ill.’
    • ‘Christian mystics warn that one has to be ready to let go of everything, even oneself.’
    • ‘The great mystics and saints have told us that the spiritual journey does include a kind of retreat from the world.’
    • ‘But although such imagery is offered in scripture and probed by mystics, it is seldom celebrated in church tradition.’
    • ‘On the other hand, Indian sages, philosophers and mystics have held out a shining vision that has inspired the world.’
    • ‘After all, I had learned from hard experience that there are few bona fide mystics in the world today.’
    seer, mystic, oracle, prophet, prophetess, soothsayer, sibyl, augur, diviner, prognosticator, clairvoyant, psychic, crystal gazer

adjective

another term for mystical
‘It was at once the most sacrilegious and yet mystic moment many of them had ever experienced.’
  • ‘Their religious rituals shroud themselves in mystic diversity.’
  • ‘Do we need to invoke some sort of mystic intuition?’
  • ‘In fact, there are many mystic traditions that consider dancing as the roadway to God.’
  • ‘It is also an astonishingly powerful, elemental and mystic structure.’

Origin

Middle English (in the sense ‘mystical meaning’): from Old French mystique, or via Latin from Greek mustikos, from mustēs ‘initiated person’ from muein ‘close the eyes or lips’, also ‘initiate’. The current sense of the noun dates from the late 17th century.