cryptomorphic

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adjective

Two objects, especially systems of axioms or semantics for them, are called cryptomorphic if they are equivalent (possibly in some informal sense) but not obviously equivalent.

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Meanings

adjectivecryptomorphic (not comparable)
  1. not comparablemathematicsTwo objects, especially systems of axioms or semantics for them, are called cryptomorphic if they are equivalent (possibly in some informal sense) but not obviously equivalent.

    Find them, and prove that an operation satisfying them provides another cryptomorphic version of topology 8.

    1994, Michael Henle, A Combinatorial Introduction to Topology, page 269
  2. not comparableHaving a form that obscures or masks the underlying meaning or purpose.

    I can imagine, for example, constructing the argument that Poe's Purloined Letter is the locus classicus for all cryptomorphic revelations.

    2004, James Elkins, Why Are Our Pictures Puzzles?:, page 186
    3 more examples

    Some degree of light may perhaps be thrown on the cryptomorphic condition of bodies in combination, by our knowledge of the typical conditions of natural bodies generally, when uncombined.

    1883, Royal Society of Canada, Déliberations Et Mémoires de la Société Royale Du Canada, page 58

    But there are two drawings and a painting that will be shown to be of Cézanne père and that have not been recognized as such — because he is without the hat he wears in the works mentioned above — as well as cryptomorphic portraits that are also hatless, all done, we may be sure, from memory.

    1988, Sidney Geist, Interpreting Cézanne, page 46

    I call this image cryptomorphic because it hides as it reveals, unlike the skull in Holbein's “Ambassadors”; that is, this smeared film image does not reveal a hidden image behind the smear.

    2016, R. Burt, Medieval and Early Modern Film and Media, page 83
  3. not comparablebiologyHaving a cryptic structure in which the ultimate active product is carried by the precursorial protein rather than the protein actually encoded by the gene.

    Hence, among the lower vertebrates, the cistron may be diplomorphic rather than cryptomorphic.

    1987, Lawrence S. Dillon, The Gene: Its Structure, Function, and Evolution, page 487
    1 more example

    Three types of genes, namely, immunoglobulin genes, dimorphic genes and cryptomorphic genes, are classified as complex genes.

    2002, Gurbachan S. Miglani, Advanced Genetics, page 193
  4. not comparableearth scienceFound or occurring below the soil layer.

    Cryptomorphic biological soil crusts are the most difficult to observe and occur to a lesser known extent within the Planning Area .

    2004, Andrews Mangement Unit/Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area: Environmental Impact Statement, page 3-8
    3 more examples

    Either the cryptomorphic silica replaced the microcrystalline dolomite, followed by mineralization or the reverse, in the order of silicification, is possible.

    1930, Economic Geology and the Bulletin of the Society of Economic Geologists: Volume 46, page 125

    The vertical flow of the substance may scatter and create dissipative cryptomorphic structures on the surface, which are poorly expressed in the relief.

    2008, D. V. Lopatin, “Cryptomorphic Structures of the Lithosphere: Their Reflection on Space Images and the Earth's Surface”, in Doklady Earth Sciences, volume 421, page 983

    The first group includes surface phenomena (i.e. exomorphic, or superficial phenomena), and the second group comprises underground phenomena (i.e. cryptomorphic, or subficial phenomena).

    2011, D. Zachar, Soil Erosion, page 47
  5. not comparablechemistryComposed of minerals that are not expressed in their crystalline form.

    Both have 'cryptomorphic' types which are similar in composition but in which no felspar has crystallized.

    1925, The Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogical Society - Volume 20, page 309

Origin

Coined by Garrett Birkhoff before 1967, for use in the third edition of his book Lattice Theory.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

cryptomorphic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cryptomorphic

MLA

“cryptomorphic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cryptomorphic. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cryptomorphic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cryptomorphic.

Source: cryptomorphic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.