enigmatic
Americanadjective
Usage
What does enigmatic mean? The adjective enigmatic can be used to describe someone or something that’s puzzling or mysterious. Enigmatic means resembling an enigma—someone or something that’s puzzling, mysterious, or difficult to make sense of. The word enigma can also mean a riddle, but it’s more often used to refer to something that’s so perplexing that it seems like a riddle (and perhaps was intended to seem like one), as in That book is completely enigmatic—I have no idea what it’s really about. If you call a person enigmatic, you mean that they’re hard to figure out—the reasons behind what they say and do are not easily understood. Some people try to be enigmatic to be mysterious. Example: I’ve known him for years, but he’s completely enigmatic—I have no idea what his interests are or what he’s really like.
Synonym Usage
See ambiguous.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of enigmatic
First recorded in 1620–30; from Late Latin aenigmaticus, from Greek ainigmatikós, equivalent to ainigmat- (stem of aínigma “riddle, taunt”) + -ikos adjective suffix; see origin at enigma, -ic
Explanation
Something that's enigmatic is tough to figure out. It's puzzling and even mysterious, like those weird secret college societies, Mona Lisa's smile, or the New York Times crossword. It's no mystery where the adjective enigmatic comes from: It's rooted in the Greek word for riddle. Something that's enigmatic is obscure, unclear and not an easy nut to crack. Translating the Rosetta Stone, with its ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and mysterious foreign writings, was certainly an enigmatic challenge for the archaeologists that found it.
Vocabulary lists containing enigmatic
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 2
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Grade 10, List 6
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "E" and "F"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Enigmatic street artist Banksy was recently revealed to be a man in his early 50s from Bristol, England.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
Enigmatic forward Kasperi Kapanen, with a $3.2 million contract, has just nine goals in 57 games this season and was demoted during a loss to Florida on Tuesday night.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 11, 2022
Enigmatic newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane rises, falls and leaves behind a riddle with his dying breath.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2019
Enigmatic billboards and flyers would announce that "Lipton is coming".
From BBC • Sep. 22, 2018
I. Ascent from Particulars to the 'Highest Parts of Sciences,' by the Enigmatic Method illustrated II.
From The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded by Bacon, Delia
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
