Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or resembling an enigma; puzzling: a professor's enigmatic grading system. See Synonyms at ambiguous.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Relating to or containing an enigma; obscure; darkly expressed or indicated; ambiguous.
- Synonyms Mysterious, puzzling, dark, recondite.
Wiktionary
- adj. Pertaining to an enigma.
- adj. Mysterious.
- adj. Defying description.
- adj. Enigmatical.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Relating to or resembling an enigma; not easily explained or accounted for; darkly expressed; not clear to the understanding; obscure; puzzling.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not clear to the understanding
- adj. resembling an oracle in obscurity of thought
Etymologies
- Greek ainigmatikos, from ainigma, ainigmat-, riddle; see enigma. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“He thought her prominent nose and firm chin formed an exquisite profile, and he was fascinated by what he called her enigmatic Mona Lisa smile.”
“Rather than offering didactic explanations for each aesthetic decision, artists may rediscover the value in enigmatic, emotionally-rooted work whose meaning is intuitively derived and not so easily explained.”
The Huffington Post: Sharon L. Butler: Abstract Expressionist New York: Line and Legacy
“By the way, I called her enigmatic because, while unlike the Pundit, she does have a picture posted on her blog, it's not particularly helpful in figuring out what she really looks like:”
“They turn up and disappear, leaving traces and clues, but remain enigmatic, ambiguous.”
“Arbuthnot on his arrival will find his wife in enigmatic tears.”
“Gianbattista and Lucia conversed in a low tone, in short, enigmatic phrases.”
“Noting some short term enigmatic inflation and deflationary cycles we will be experiencing for some time.”
“Ooh, and they were "enigmatic" -- a pasty, poker-faced duo who dressed only in red, white and black, did not appear in their debut video (they used LEGOs and animation instead) and left people guessing about whether they were husband and wife or brother and sister.”
“* Amy Pond is described as "enigmatic" - so does she arrive with a built-in mystery?”
“A certain enigmatic quality, even the occasional feeling of being out of one’s depth, is necessary if a spy novel is not to feel like a boys’ adventure.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘enigmatic’.
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PHIL - vocabulary of thinking
philosophy, Socratic, dialogue, philosopher, Athenian, philosophical, politic, Greek, method, death, ancient, believe and 243 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2042 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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Introverted
Quiet, shy, Introverted, reserved, isolated, mysterious
abashed, alienated, alone, anonymous, antisocial, ascetic, asocial, austere, autonomous, awkward, bashful, clannish and 91 more...
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Lolita
Marat, diaphanous, stolid, inveigle, moll, domicile, pugilist, indigent, corpulent, erudite, coruscate, ameliorate and 16 more...
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pretentious words i have used or hope...
a list of pretentious words i have used or hope to use when discussing operas because they make me feel like i am considerably more knowledgeable about opera than i actually am.
pulchritudinous, divina, libretto, diegetic, syncretism, mezzo-soprano, contralto, coloratura, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, bass and 42 more...
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Hit Parade GRE
Princeton Review words
abscond, aberrant, alacrity, anomaly, approbation, arduous, assuage, audacious, austere, axiomatic, canonical, capricious and 287 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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Week 1, Day 1
ignominy, marquee, deter, chariot, stern, perfidy, treacherous, insolent, presumptuous, banish, dubious, livid and 133 more...
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happiness
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betweeness
cognitive, dissonance, connotation, existentialism, interstitial, enigmatic, floater, interrobang, ampersand, intermittent
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Wenderful's Whirled World of Blurred ...
Lexicon I likez... in no order whatsoever.
omnivalence, cerebration, sprachgefühl, schadenfreude, rutabaga, septuagenarian, foible, vainglorious, leviathan, remunerative, catastrophize, ancillary and 182 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for enigmatic.
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