What is the definition of enigma?

Define enigma: something hard to understand or explain; an inscrutable or mysterious person; an obscure speech or writing — enigma in a sentence. read more

The word enigma originally referred not to people but to words, and specifically to words that formed a riddle or complicated metaphor that tested the listener's or reader's alertness and cleverness. This meaning is clearly connected to the word's history. read more

The baffling enigma of the Chinese character to the West was no baffling enigma to the Japanese. View in context Pearl's inevitable tendency to hover about the enigma of the scarlet letter seemed an innate quality of her being. read more

a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation: His disappearance is an enigma that has given rise to much speculation. a person of puzzling or contradictory character: To me he has always been an enigma, one minute completely insensitive, the next moved to tears. read more