Mysteriarch

//mɪsˈtɪəɹiˌɑː(ɹ)k// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who rules over mysteries.

    "It cannot be said that the place ever adequately gratified the sense of mystery it excited; but, after all, to excite the sense of mystery is perhaps better than to gratify it, and, considering its poor material, this room was quite a clever old mysteriarch."

Example

More examples

"It cannot be said that the place ever adequately gratified the sense of mystery it excited; but, after all, to excite the sense of mystery is perhaps better than to gratify it, and, considering its poor material, this room was quite a clever old mysteriarch."

Etymology

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin mystēriarchēs (“one who presides over Christian sacraments”), from Ancient Greek μυστηριάρχης (mustēriárkhēs, “one who rules over religious mysteries”), from μυστήριον (mustḗrion) + -άρχης (-árkhēs), corresponding to mystery + -arch.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.