conundrum
Americannoun
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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.
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anything that puzzles.
noun
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a riddle, esp one whose answer makes a play on words
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a puzzling question or problem
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of conundrum
First recorded in 1590–1600; pseudo-Latin word of obscure origin
Explanation
The tricky word conundrum is used to describe a riddle or puzzle, sometimes including a play on words or pun. One of the most famous conundrums is the riddle of the Sphinx, famously in the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Oedipus encounters the Sphinx, a mythical beast, who asks him, "What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?" The answer is "A person": crawling as a child, walking as an adult, and using a cane in old age. The scary thing is that if the Sphinx asked you the riddle and you didn't know, she'd eat you!
Vocabulary lists containing conundrum
100 Top "SAT" Words
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In a Pickle: Words for When You're in Trouble
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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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:
That points to another conundrum for the health-conscious white-collar urban workforce: Greens are everywhere and in everything.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
The conundrum is that, when I pass, all my retirement income will be reduced to $30,000 a year for my wife, assuming she outlives me.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
The path of oil prices has been a conundrum for most of the war, and the puzzle is continuing even as the countries take steps toward peace.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
The jurisdictional conundrum grew only worse as the VA issued 99-year leases to local developers to build those initial 1,200 units.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Vivid to me, and a seeming conundrum, was the refusal of my inmate to submit to a strip-frisk.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, David Plotz, and special guest Stephen Colbert answer listeners’ conundrums of all kinds: the meaningful, the trivial, and the delightfully absurd.
From Slate ● Dec. 26, 2025
Webster and Hopkins’s unique creation invites readers to stand in for the three main characters— the debutante Helen; the caddish Jed; and the good guy Saunders—as these hapless young people confront romantic and ethical conundrums.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
And while there are entire branches of philosophy devoted to the conundrums from misaligned moral tenets and professional duties, negotiation offers some of the more creative approaches.
From Salon ● May 23, 2025
Nauman paid close attention to Duchamp’s penchant for an art of puns and conundrums.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2025
I was so frightened, and at the mercy of so many conundrums, that inevitably, that summer, someone would have taken me over; one doesn’t, in Harlem, long remain standing on any auction block.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
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.
