enigma
/ɪˈnɪɡmə/
enigma noun: something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable. Also the alternative letter-case form of Enigma.
Noun
enigma (countable and uncountable, plural enigmas or enigmata)
- Something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable.
- I was, and still am, an enigma to myself.1894, Abram H. Dailey, Mollie Fancher, the Brooklyn Enigma, page 66
- At the heart of all things there is to be found a certain coincidentia oppositorum; and herein, as I have said, lies the key to our problem: the enigma of indeterminism. The astounding fact is that freedom and necessity can coexist;1995, Wolfgang Smith, The Quantum Enigma: Finding the Hidden Key, page 92
- A riddle, or a difficult problem.
- Some enigma, some riddle: come, thy l'envoy, begin.1598, William Shakespeare, Loves Labour's Lost
- This little story before us is an amplification of that clever enigma, and though essentially a story for children, as its title-page tells us, would beguile many a one much older of a half-hour in the evening.1879, Henry C. Linstead, The marvellous house; or, The bishop's enigma, page 91
- Riddles and puzzles, collectively.
- From the beginning, readers of The Enigma of Arrival are likely to feel surrounded by enigma and puzzle.2000, Harish Trivedi, Richard Allen, Literature and Nation, page 147
- These examples show that two processes are tested in enigma - logic and intuition. It is intuition that discovers the specific idea that may be called the “ wisdom ” of a given riddle, whereas logic is confounded by enigma and can only produce inadequate interpretations.2005, Jenny Ledeen, Prophecy in the Christian Era, page 165
- Mysteriousness; obscurity; a lack of clarity.
- In those halcyon days I believed that the source of enigma was stupidity .1995, Ian Ward ·, Law and Literature: Possibilities and Perspectives, page 203
- The circumstances under which the band is obtained and the strange story that it tells are wrapped in enigma that challenges the hermeneutic powers of the reader .1998 ·, Richard L. Hunter, Studies in Heliodorus, page 80
- A style of literature characterized by obscurity and hints of transcendental meaning.
- But in a sense it is probably close to this book— a series of juxtaposed splinters of meaning, which perhaps once in ten million times will come out as a piece of interpretable prose, with the black pieces intervening, and possibly one could look at this as a one-in-ten million exercise in enigma...1971, Paul West, Caliban's filibuster, page 233
- Isidore, on the other hand, while beginning with the traditional classification, proceeds to distinguish between allegory and enigma in a way that reveals a more unusual perception: There is this difference, however, between allegory and enigma, that the force of allegory is twofold, and...1974, Peter Dronke, Fabula: Explorations Into the Uses of Myth in Medieval Platonism, page 45
- A protein with three LIM domains (a conserved cysteine- and histidine-rich structure of two adjacent zinc fingers) at the C terminus that regulates protein phosphorylation.
- Members of this LIM protein family expressed in muscle include muscle LIM protein (MLP), enigma, actinin-associated LIM protein (ALP), cypher, four and a half LIM-only protein FHL/SLIM, and heart LIM protein (HLP).2007, Matti Weckström, Pasi Tavi, Cardiac Mechanotransduction, page 84
- Yeast two-hybrid screening revealed that enigma binds to the insulin receptor (InsR) internalization motif.2007, Shiro Iuchi, Natalie Kuldell, Zinc Finger Proteins: From Atomic Contact to Cellular Function, page 101
- The Talaud kingfisher, Todiramphus enigma.
- As noted by Fry (1980), if both forms were shown to be resident and breeding on Talaud, enigma must be accorded specific status.1997, Jon Riley, Biological Surveys and Conservation Priorities on the Sangihe and Talaud Islands, Indonesia
- No conclusive proof of breeding by enigma was obtained, but during late September and October 1995, birds were paired and holding territory in central Karakelang.1998, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club - Volumes 118-119, page 116
- Any member of the species Oedaleonotus enigma of grasshoppers.
- The principal species involved were the migratory grasshopper, Melanoplus sanguinipes (Fab.); the Packard grasshopper, Melanoplus packardii Scudd.; the clearwinged grasshopper, Camnula pellucida (Scudd.); and the Enigma Oedaleonotus enigma Scudd.1972, United States. Forest Service, Forest Insect Conditions in the United States, page 13
- Any member of the species Heliothis enigma of rare moths.
- Unlike any other species except virescens , the base of the male valve in enigma is slightly expanded and is entirely covered by hair insertions; unlike virescens, the base of the valve is not expanded into a large corema.1970, Mississippi State University, Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin, numbers 179-191, page 9
Proper noun capitalized: Enigma
Enigma
- A German device used during World War II to encode strategic messages.
Also used as
enigma is also the alternative letter-case form of Enigma.
enigma meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Pashto and Tagalog
enigma in Hindi
- something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable
- पहेली pahelī, मुअम्मा muammā, राज़ rāz
enigma in Urdu
- something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable
- معما mu'ammā, پہیلی pahelī, راز rāz
enigma in Pashto
- something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable
- معما ma'mã
enigma in Tagalog
- riddle, or a difficult problem
- hibat
More languagesFewer languages
- enigma in Arabic
- لُغْز luḡz, غَامِضَة ḡāmiḍa
- enigma in Persian
- معما mo'ammâ
- enigma in Thai
- ปริศนา bprìt-sà-nǎa
- enigma in Vietnamese
- điều bí ẩn
- enigma in Myanmar
- စကားထာ ca.ka:hta
Examples of enigma in a sentence
- Tucked inconspicuously away behind the shoal of darkness that hung in those gloomy corners, the silhouetted enigma was ogling him in halcyon silence.2007, Ramon Elmerito Gatchalian, A Supernatural Threat, page 9:
- But as he came to know this work during his last months, he also came to a profound understanding of the many enigmas that create a deeply satisfying life.2007, Fernando Arrojo Ramos, Enigmas:
- The enigma that is central to homeopathic medicine has to do with the relationship between dilution and potency.2009, Vinton McCabe, The Healing Enigma: Demystifying Homeopathy:
- The 'Real' Borges is difficult to pin down; in a word, he is an enigma.2021, Cynthia Lucy Stephens, The Borges Enigma: Mirrors, Doubles, and Intimate Puzzles, page 6:
Forms of enigma
| plural | enigmas |
|---|---|
| plural | enigmata |
| alternative form (archaic) | aenigma |
| alternative form (archaic) | ænigma |
Origin of enigma
From Latin aenigma (“riddle”), being derived itself from the Ancient Greek verbal noun αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, speaking in riddles”).
Words formed from enigma
Phrases with enigma
Words that rhyme with enigma
Questions about enigma
- What does enigma mean?
- Enigma means something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable.
- What is enigma in Hindi?
- Enigma in Hindi is पहेली (pahelī), मुअम्मा (muammā), राज़ (rāz). See Enigma meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use enigma in a sentence?
- Tucked inconspicuously away behind the shoal of darkness that hung in those gloomy corners, the silhouetted enigma was ogling him in halcyon silence.
- What part of speech is enigma?
- Enigma can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce enigma?
- Enigma is pronounced /ɪˈnɪɡmə/.
- What is the plural of enigma?
- The plural of enigma is enigmas.
Words near enigma in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: enigma (page history and authors); Enigma (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-enigma.ogg.
Cite this entry: “enigma.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/enigma. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.