enigma

/i'nigmə/

Thân thiện

The scientist pondered the enigma of the ancient artifact.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A difficult problem: Something that is hard to solve or figure out.
   • Something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained: A person, thing, or situation that is mysterious, puzzling, or inexplicable.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The sudden disappearance of the ancient civilization remains an enigma to historians.
  • She was a complete enigma to her colleagues; no one could predict her actions.
  • The cause of the strange signal from deep space is a scientific enigma.

Advanced Usage

• "To be an enigma wrapped in a mystery": An expression, often used for emphasis, to describe something extremely puzzling or difficult to understand.
  • The spy's true motives were an enigma wrapped in a mystery.

Variants and Related Words

• Enigmatic (adj): Mysterious and difficult to understand.
  • He gave an enigmatic smile, leaving everyone wondering what he meant.
• Enigmatically (adv): In a mysterious or puzzling way.
  • She smiled enigmatically and refused to answer.

Synonyms

• Mystery: Something that is not understood or is secret.
• Puzzle: A problem or toy designed to test ingenuity or knowledge.
• Riddle: A question or statement phrased to require clever thought to answer or understand.
• Conundrum: A confusing and difficult problem or question.

Idioms and Phrases

• An enigma code: Historically refers to a complex cipher, like the German Enigma machine used in WWII, but can be used metaphorically for any very complex code or puzzle.
  • Breaking the company's financial records was like cracking an enigma code.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a difficult problem
2. something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
   • how it got out is a mystery
   • it remains one of nature's secrets

Từ đồng nghĩa

• riddle
• conundrum
• brain-teaser
• mystery
• secret
• closed book