ENIGMATICAL

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does enigmatical mean? 

• ENIGMATICAL (adjective)
  The adjective ENIGMATICAL has 1 sense:

1. not clear to the understanding

  Familiarity information: ENIGMATICAL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENIGMATICAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not clear to the understanding

Synonyms:

enigmatic; enigmatical; puzzling

Context example:

prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries

Similar:

incomprehensible; uncomprehensible (difficult to understand)

Derivation:

enigma (something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained)

 Context examples 

Your language is enigmatical, sir: but though I am bewildered, I am certainly not afraid.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message, I saw Holmes chuckling at the expression upon my face.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Oh, yes, no doubt that is what I must have meant,” said Holmes, with his enigmatical smile.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When she did speak, her words were enigmatical:—"Something is going out; I can feel it pass me like a cold wind. I can hear, far off, confused sounds—as of men talking in strange tongues, fierce-falling water, and the howling of wolves."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was headed, “March, 1869,” and beneath were the following enigmatical notices: 4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. 7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and John Swain of St. Augustine. 9th. McCauley cleared. 10th. John Swain cleared. 12th. Visited Paramore. All well.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I hardly heard Mrs. Fairfax's account of the curtain conflagration during dinner, so much was I occupied in puzzling my brains over the enigmatical character of Grace Poole, and still more in pondering the problem of her position at Thornfield and questioning why she had not been given into custody that morning, or, at the very least, dismissed from her master's service.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)