enigma
Americannoun
-
enigmas,
plural
-
enigmata
plural (Chiefly Archaic)
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a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation.
His disappearance is an enigma that has given rise to much speculation.
- Synonyms:
- problem
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a person of puzzling or contradictory character.
To me he has always been an enigma, one minute completely insensitive, the next moved to tears.
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a saying, question, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning; riddle.
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(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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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:
For many Americans, the price of prescription drugs is an enigma.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Florian Wirtz arrived at Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last summer amid great fanfare in a then-British record £116m deal - but remained an enigma as he fell far short of expectations.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
When Todd Haynes made his 1995 masterpiece “Safe”—which cast Julianne Moore as a Los Angeles housewife under siege by myriad illnesses—environmental disease was an enigma.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
It’s Seyfried who elevates “The Housemaid” from guilty pleasure status, making it an exhilarating enigma at one moment and genuinely affecting the next.
From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2026
With him he spoke of chemistry and the enigma of the universe.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
It pitted the “unfledged, unarmed chemist” on one side, while “on the other side, responding with enigmas, stood Matter.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Despite decades of study, dark energy remains one of science's most puzzling enigmas.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2025
It unfolds along the same lines as “The Perfect Couple” and “Nine Perfect Strangers,” both of which feature Nicole Kidman playing patrician enigmas — a trend that began with her turn in "Big Little Lies."
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2025
Considering how efficiently the movie sets up its rules, the filmmakers opt to shatter one of its central, compelling enigmas by attempting to explain it in a poorly written scene toward the end.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2025
Ancient histories are enigmas proposed by antiquity to posterity, which understands them not—Dict.
From Voltaire: A Sketch of his Life and Works by G. W. (George William) Foote
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.
