enigma (noun)

См. также в других словарях:

• enigma — ► NOUN ▪ a mysterious or puzzling person or thing. DERIVATIVES enigmatic adjective enigmatical adjective enigmatically adverb. ORIGIN Greek ainigma riddle …   English terms dictionary

• enigma — noun /əˈnɪɡmə/ a) Something puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable b) A riddle, or a difficult problem <! There are more senses than these; they need to be added before the translations are checked. See Also: a riddle wrapped up in an enigma …   Wiktionary

• enigma — I noun aenigma, ambages, ambiguous saying, arcanum, bewilderment, braintwister, complexity, confusing statement, confusion, difficulty, inexplicable statement, inscrutable person, knotty point, mystery, obscure question, obscure statement,… …   Law dictionary

• enigma — noun (C) someone or something that is strange or mysterious and difficult to understand or explain: The neighbours had come to regard him as something of an enigma …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

• enigma — noun how it works is an enigma to me Syn: mystery, puzzle, riddle, conundrum, paradox, problem, quandary; a closed book; informal poser See note at riddle …   Thesaurus of popular words

• enigma canon — noun a canon in which the entrances of successive parts were indicated by cryptic symbols and devices (popular in the 15th and 16th centuries) • Syn: ↑enigmatic canon, ↑enigmatical canon, ↑riddle canon • Hypernyms: ↑canon * * * noun or …   Useful english dictionary

• enigma — noun Etymology: Latin aenigma, from Greek ainigmat , ainigma, from ainissesthai to speak in riddles, from ainos fable Date: 1539 1. an obscure speech or writing 2. something hard to understand or explain 3. an inscrutable or mysterious person… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

• Enigma machine — noun a) a small portable electro mechanical rotor machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages, made famous by Germany in WWII b) fig. something which decrypts or makes understandable something enigmatic (see quotation) …   Wiktionary

• Enigma — noun A German device used during World War II to encode strategic messages …   Wiktionary

• enigma — UK [ɪˈnɪɡmə] / US noun [countable] Word forms enigma : singular enigma plural enigmas someone or something that is mysterious and difficult to understand …   English dictionary

• enigma — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. riddle, mystery, puzzle, conundrum, secret. See difficulty, unintelligibility. II (Roget s IV) n. 1. [Puzzle] Syn. problem, riddle, parable; see puzzle 2 , 3 . 2. [Anything or anyone inexplicable] Syn …   English dictionary for students