enigma

1. 1.

   something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained

   “how it got out is a mystery”

   “it remains one of nature's secrets”

   Synonymsmysterysecretclosed book

   Broaderperplexity
2. 2.

   a difficult problem

   Synonymsriddleconundrumbrain-teaser

   Broaderproblem

Other forms of enigma

plural

enigmas·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about enigma

What does enigma mean?

enigma means "something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in enigma?

enigma has 3 syllables: e-nig-ma. The stress falls on "nig". In IPA it is /ɪˈnɪɡmə/.

What is another word for enigma?

Close synonyms include mystery, secret, closed book, riddle, conundrum. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is enigma a common word?

enigma is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.