enigma
Americannoun
-
a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation.
His disappearance is an enigma that has given rise to much speculation.
- Synonyms:
- problem
-
a person of puzzling or contradictory character.
To me he has always been an enigma, one minute completely insensitive, the next moved to tears.
-
a saying, question, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning; riddle.
-
(initial capital letter) a German-built enciphering machine developed for commercial use in the early 1920s and later adapted and appropriated by German and other Axis powers for military use through World War II.
noun
Usage
What does enigma mean? An enigma is 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 an enigma—I have no idea what it’s really about. If you call a person an enigma, 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 enigmas to be mysterious. The adjective enigmatic can be used to describe someone or something that’s puzzling or mysterious. Example: I’ve known him for years, but he’s still a total enigma to me—I have no idea what his interests are or what he’s really like.
Synonym Usage
See puzzle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of enigma
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin aenigma, from Greek aínigma, equivalent to ainik- (stem of ainíssesthai “to speak in riddles,” derivative of aînos fable) + -ma noun suffix of result
Explanation
Use the noun enigma to refer to something that is a puzzle or a mystery. Why do you have to learn difficult words like this? That is an enigma. Traveling to English from Greek by means of the Latin word for "riddle," enigma refers to something or someone that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to figure out. Many things have been named Enigma, including a rock band, a video game, a rollercoaster ride, and a very famous coding machine used in World War II.
Vocabulary lists containing enigma
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The Thing About Jellyfish
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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.
See Examples For:
It’s hard to imagine an audience resisting the temptation to have the enigma central to the play’s meaning clarified, given its prominence in the plot and the drama’s woolly elusiveness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
I have now spoken to more patients and doctors about why this condition remains such an enigma.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Most of my book is devoted to trying to sort out this political enigma, and how the movement and its consequences might be understood.
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026
But she said the film, which goes on global release on Friday and will later be shown exclusively on Amazon Prime, would give people a look behind the enigma.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
I waited now his return; eager to disburthen my mind, and to seek of him the solution of the enigma that perplexed me.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Despite decades of study, dark energy remains one of science's most puzzling enigmas.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2025
There are all these enigmas still lingering, enigmas intentionally left unresolved in the book.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
It reportedly contained a joking reference that "enigmas never age" and allegedly ended with the words: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2025
While this does not seem to be reflected on the stones themselves, that does not mean there are not more enigmas about the sun stones which need to be cracked.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2025
But as regards the enigmas of life He only drops hints, which men may take or not.
From Pastor Pastorum by Latham, Rev. Henry
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.
