enigma
Americannoun
-
enigmas,
plural
-
enigmata
plural (Chiefly Archaic)
-
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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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:
The surge in artificial intelligence and the heated debate around its risks have made Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei the most visible tech leader -- though the 43-year-old remains an enigma.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
For many Americans, the price of prescription drugs is an enigma.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
I have now spoken to more patients and doctors about why this condition remains such an enigma.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
At one point, Justice Samuel Alito, echoing Winston Churchill, described the key, five-word provision of the 14th Amendment as “a puzzle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mystery.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
He was away in a mystery, locked in the enigma that young Southern Black boys start to unravel, start to try to unravel, from seven years old to death.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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
There are all these enigmas still lingering, enigmas intentionally left unresolved in the book.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
Since Watson is a sucker for enigmas, he surrounds himself with a team of young experts, each of whom is defined by one of their own.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025
We have won our scraps of spiritual experience, our messages from behind the veil; we can try them in their connection with certain enigmas which philosophy hardly hoped to be able to put to proof.
From Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death by F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry) Myers
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