Dictionary

sphinxlike en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English sphinx Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-West Germanic *-līk Old English -līċ Middle English -like English -like English sphinxlike From sphinx + -like.

Meanings

1. Like a sphinx, or like that of a sphinx, especially, not showing passion or emotion; inscrutable.
   • they get together in the dry riverbed. He writhes over her for a minute or two as she sits sphinxlike, dignified, head straight in the air. 2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may look goofy, but ostriches are nobody’s fool”, in National Geographic Magazine:
   • What about Mrs. Cavendish? I watched her as she sat at the head of the table, graceful, composed, enigmatic. In her soft grey frock, with white ruffles at the wrists falling over her slender hands, she looked very beautiful. When she chose, however, her face could be sphinx-like in its inscrutability. 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 57:
2. Mysterious; scheming; having a deceptive outward appearance.
   • Mrs. Mallowe smiled in a superior and Sphinx-like fashion. 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 21:
   • “What we need to avoid at the end is a headline that says ‘Russia Won, America Lost.’” A sphinxlike response. Or perhaps a nonresponse. 2025 March 7, Mark Leibovich, “Mitch McConnell and the President He Calls ‘Despicable’”, in The Atlantic:

Forms