Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable.
- n. A perplexing speech or text; a riddle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A dark saying or representation, in which some known thing is concealed under obscure words or forms; a question, saying, figure, or design containing a hidden meaning which is proposed for discovery; a riddle.
- n. Anything inexplicable to an observer, such as the means by which something is effected, the motive for a course of conduct, the cause of a phenomenon, etc.: as, how it was done is an enigma; his conduct is to me an enigma.
Wiktionary
- n. Something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable.
- n. A riddle, or a difficult problem.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A dark, obscure, or inexplicable saying; a riddle; a statement, the hidden meaning of which is to be discovered or guessed.
- n. An action, mode of action, or thing, which cannot be satisfactorily explained; a puzzle.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a difficult problem
- n. something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
Etymologies
- From Latin aenigma ("riddle"), from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (ainigma, "dark saying, riddle"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin aenigma, from Greek ainigma, from ainissesthai, ainig-, to speak in riddles, from ainos, fable. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Suffice it to say here that this triple enigma is as comforting as wine and open as an English fireside; that this thing that bewilders the intellect utterly quiets the heart: but out of the desert, from the dry places and, the dreadful suns, come the cruel children of the lonely God; the real Unitarians who with scimitar in hand have laid waste the world.”
“Nathan Lee in the Voice: See Los Muertos with virgin eyes; this cool-headed enigma is best approached cold, ignorant of everything but the title.”
“The C-value enigma is real, and there is a lot of research going on right now investigating it.”
“In fact, this juxtaposition, this enigma, is the theme of this show.”
“The enigma is so persistentand has been so central to politically-intended art and criticismthat one begins to understand the paradox of the orthodox Marxian critic”
Sociopolitical (i.e., _Romantic_) Difficulty in Modern Poetry and Aesthetics
“As we will see this pre-containment of narrative enigma is not only important to the hegemonic effects of the opera, but also to the ideological centrality of the set design.”
Through Colonial Spectacles: the Irish Vizier and the Female-Knight in James Cobb
“For Christians this enigma is best summed up in a well-known phrase -- "Whose service is perfect freedom.”
“An introductory brief description in enigma of the destruction by fire and sword, detailed more explicitly in Eze 21: 1-32.”
“Such an enigma is man -- born to perish -- when he wars, as I do, against the established laws of his nature.”
“This phenomenon highlights the short versus long term enigma that blesses or curses recreational gamblers, and some professionals, too.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘enigma’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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WordMasters Blue Division Set 2
rampage, prissy, trample, infamy, severe, deplete, callow, slacken, threshold, obscure, teem, barren and 12 more...
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GRE Passage Words
admonish, ephemeral, ambivalence, antipathy, antithetical, countenance, deride, eclectic, enigma, ethos, expediency, impinge and 15 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1523 more...
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Quandary
pickle, conundrum, mare's nest, riddle, stumper, imbroglio, quandary, quagmire, dilemma, puzzle, enigma, arcanum and 4 more...
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Words For Novel
viridity, effigy, paragon, congested, acrid, lilting, clandestine, plethora, accolade, sardonic, naïve, reckoning and 285 more...
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to memorize
words i need to memorize
aberrant, abscond, advocate, aggrandize, amalgamate, ambiguous, ambrosial, anomalous, antediluvian, antipathy, arbitrate, assuage and 163 more...
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SAT_RW
bigot, remuneration, kindle, noxious, abhor, placid, enfranchise, counterfeit, hamper, Abrasive, bilk, covert and 87 more...
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Holli
Cancer, Mercury, water, moon, dark, emotion, nostalgia, angst, brooding, isolation, shadow, corner and 145 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for enigma.
darlingenigma He called me an Enigma and I laughed. It means, "One that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable. A perplexing speech or text; a riddle." Maybe in the sense that I cannot feel, speak in metaphors, and dream while awake. Hah... maybe he's right. Jun 29, 2009