enigmatic
Americanadjective
Usage
What does enigmatic mean? The adjective enigmatic can be used to describe someone or something that’s puzzling or mysterious.Enigmatic means resembling an enigma—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 completely enigmatic—I have no idea what it’s really about. If you call a person enigmatic, 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 enigmatic to be mysterious.Example: I’ve known him for years, but he’s completely enigmatic—I have no idea what his interests are or what he’s really like.
Related Words
See ambiguous.
Other Word Forms
- enigmatically adverb
- nonenigmatic adjective
- nonenigmatical adjective
- nonenigmatically adverb
- unenigmatic adjective
- unenigmatical adjective
- unenigmatically adverb
Etymology
Origin of enigmatic
First recorded in 1620–30; from Late Latin aenigmaticus, from Greek ainigmatikós, equivalent to ainigmat- (stem of aínigma “riddle, taunt”) + -ikos adjective suffix; enigma, -ic
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.
"They are one of the most enigmatic species of ants - they form large colonies, engage in interesting behaviours and are easy to keep. They are not aggressive."
From BBC
This altarpiece marks the Italian artist coming into his own at the end of the Renaissance, its vision of Christ after his crucifixion rendered in an expressive, enigmatic style.
The publication of millions of pages of documents relating to Epstein by the US Department of Justice this year cast new light on this enigmatic German businessman.
From BBC
The enigmatic song earned her the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest that year, making it the first time a Latin category took home the top prize.
From Los Angeles Times
If Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” seems to crop up more often than his other plays, it’s probably because of the enigmatic hold the chilling title character has on actresses and audiences alike.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
