conundrum

[ kuh-nuhn-druh m ]

/ kəˈnʌn drəm /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR conundrum ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a riddle, the answer to which involves a pun or play on words, as What is black and white and read all over? A newspaper.

anything that puzzles.

Nearby words

Origin of conundrum

First recorded in 1590–1600; pseudo-L word of obscure origin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for conundrum

This Fourth of July conundrum was addressed all the way back in 1907, in the esteemed medical journal JAMA.
How Not to Blow Yourself Up on July 4th|Kent Sepkowitz|July 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Burger Chef conundrum leads to another poignant exchange between the two lost souls.
Mad Men’s ‘The Strategy,’ With Peggy and Don’s Late-Night Powwow, is S7’s Best Episode (So Far)|Marlow Stern|May 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Compounding the conundrum further is the fact that many cellphones allow direct access to information in remote cloud storage.
Can Government Call the Shots on Cellphone Privacy?|Aziz Huq|April 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The result is a conundrum for the Republican Party where there is no clear middle ground.
Even a Path to Citizenship for Military Volunteers Is Too Much for House Republicans|Ben Jacobs|April 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST

This conundrum is referred to with the awful acronym of DURC, for “dual use research of concern.”
The Deadliest Botox Has Arrived|Kent Sepkowitz|October 18, 2013|DAILY BEAST
That was a conundrum, and Matt had no time to give to conundrums just then.
Motor Matt's Red Flyer, or, On the High Gear|Stanley R. Matthews
You surely remember the conundrum about a cold chop and a hot steak.
The Four Corners Abroad|Amy Ella Blanchard
The opinions of the day are often more clearly expressed in a conundrum than in an essay.
The Handbook of Conundrums|Edith B. Ordway
Is this a conundrum or blather, invented to hide your ignominy in a cloud of words?
The Invader|Margaret L. Woods
But there was no satisfactory answer to that conundrum and he went back to his books.
Center Rush Rowland|Ralph Henry Barbour

British Dictionary definitions for conundrum

conundrum

/ (kəˈnʌndrəm) /

noun

a riddle, esp one whose answer makes a play on words

a puzzling question or problem

Word Origin for conundrum

C16: of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for conundrum

conundrum

1590s, Oxford University slang for "pedant," also "whim," etc., later (1790) "riddle, puzzle." Also spelled quonundrum. The sort of ponderous pseudo-Latin word that was once the height of humor in learned circles.

conundrum

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of conundrum

Examples from the Web for conundrum

conundrum

noun

Word Origin for conundrum

conundrum