enigma means A German device used during World War II to encode strategic messages. It carries an Arena rating of 1617, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, enigma ranks #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,517 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #2,563 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words, #6,721 of 14,322 for Scariest Words.
enigma is pronounced /ɪˈnɪɡmə/.
Why “enigma” is a great word
A person, thing, or situation that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand. From Latin aenigma ("riddle"), from Ancient Greek αἴνιγμα (aínigma, "dark saying, riddle"), from αἰνίσσεσθαι (ainíssesthai, "to speak in riddles"). Unlike a "mystery," which may be a solvable unknown, or a "paradox," a specific logical contradiction, an enigma is a deeper, more cryptic obscurity that resists interpretation. It is the Mona Lisa’s half-smile in a dim gallery, the Voynich manuscript's undeciphered pages, or the singular, silent room in a labyrinth where the rules of geometry cease to apply—a problem that defines not a lack of answers, but the absence of a language in which to ask the proper question.
Etymology
From Latin aenigma (“riddle”), being derived itself from the Ancient Greek verbal noun αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “dark saying, speaking in riddles”).
name
- A German device used during World War II to encode strategic messages.
noun
- Something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable.“I was, and still am, an enigma to myself.”
- A riddle, or a difficult problem.“Some enigma, some riddle: come, thy l'envoy, begin.”
- Riddles and puzzles, collectively.“From the beginning, readers of The Enigma of Arrival are likely to feel surrounded by enigma and puzzle.”
- Mysteriousness; obscurity; a lack of clarity.“In those halcyon days I believed that the source of enigma was stupidity .”
- 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 perhaps meaning something.”
- 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).”
- 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.”
- Any of species of 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.”
- Any of species of 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.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.