ENIGMA

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does enigma mean? 

• ENIGMA (noun)
  The noun ENIGMA has 2 senses:

1. something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained

2. a difficult problem

  Familiarity information: ENIGMA used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENIGMA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

closed book; enigma; mystery; secret

Context example:

it remains one of nature's secrets

Hypernyms ("enigma" is a kind of...):

perplexity (trouble or confusion resulting from complexity)

Derivation:

enigmatic (resembling an oracle in obscurity of thought)

enigmatic; enigmatical (not clear to the understanding)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A difficult problem

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

brain-teaser; conundrum; enigma; riddle

Hypernyms ("enigma" is a kind of...):

problem (a question raised for consideration or solution)

 Context examples 

I waited now his return; eager to disburthen my mind, and to seek of him the solution of the enigma that perplexed me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But Brissenden was always an enigma.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Sir, said I, affecting a coolness that I was far from truly possessing, you speak enigmas, and you will perhaps not wonder that I hear you with no very strong impression of belief.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

At once he became an enigma.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He was invited to contribute any really good enigmas, charades, or conundrums that he might recollect; and she had the pleasure of seeing him most intently at work with his recollections; and at the same time, as she could perceive, most earnestly careful that nothing ungallant, nothing that did not breathe a compliment to the sex should pass his lips.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But my mind had been running on Grace Poole—that living enigma, that mystery of mysteries, as I considered her.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She surveyed my whole person: in her eyes I read that they had there found no charm powerful enough to solve the enigma.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The enigma then was explained: this affable and kind little widow was no great dame; but a dependant like myself.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I don't understand enigmas.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)