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enigma
in a sentence

show 189 more with this conextual meaning
  • Paris traffic is an endless enigma regardless of the hour of day or night.   (source)
  • You know I am an expert in matters of religious enigmas.   (source)
    enigmas = things that are mysterious and seem unexplainable
  • He sent her a quiet, enigmatic look.   (source)
    enigmatic = mysterious (not understandable)
  • Grover smiled enigmatically.   (source)
    enigmatically = in a mysterious manner that seems unexplainable
  • That was just another of the enigmas he never solved.   (source)
    enigmas = unexplainable things
  • In spite of her terrifying frankness and overwhelming naivete, he really knew nothing about her and he was tired of living with an enigma.   (source)
    enigma = something mysterious that cannot be understood
  • Poirot smiled rather enigmatically.   (source)
    enigmatically = in a mysterious manner that seems unexplainable
  • ...he (Bon) seems to have withdrawn into a mere spectator, passive, a little sardonic, and completely enigmatic.   (source)
    enigmatic = mysterious and seeming unexplainable
  • When she did speak, her words were enigmatical, "Something is going out."   (source)
    enigmatical = mysterious
  • As for that enigmatic Scarlet Pimpernel, what is he to you?   (source)
  • But this land was an enigma.   (source)
    enigma = mystery that seems unexplainable
  • Sometimes she said things that were enigmatic, and he was puzzled.   (source)
    enigmatic = mysterious and seeming unexplainable
  • beneath were the following enigmatical notices:   (source)
    enigmatical = mysterious and seemingly unexplainable
  • you speak enigmas   (source)
    enigmas = things that are mysterious and seem unexplainable
  • He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemed always to avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical personage, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of the world.   (source)
    enigmatical = mysterious
  • He is fond of enigmas,   (source)
    enigmas = things that are mysterious and seem unexplainable
  • I do so in the hope that my experiences will throw some oblique light on the enigma of Chris McCandless.†   (source)
  • You may be sure that all travellers, magicians, strangers or beggars who find themselves in the vicinity of the People of Desolation take care to provide themselves with a stash of obscure parables — cloud words, they're called, or knotted silk — enigmatic enough to be useful on various occasions, as circumstances may dictate.†   (source)
  • I give an enigmatic shrug.†   (source)
  • Dr. Seuss tried to delve deep into the unfestive mind of this enigmatic creature in order to find a possible reason for his lack of Christmas spirit: It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.†   (source)
  • And then he would lie back in the grass and gaze thoughtfully at the figure eights of the fireflies as if he too were pondering this essential enigma.†   (source)
  • Williams smiled enigmatically, but I could tell he was not joking.†   (source)
  • I wasn't enigmatic, either.†   (source)
  • There's enigmatic Evan, taciturn Evan, passionate Evan, and now shy little boy Evan.†   (source)
  • Illyrio smiled enigmatically and tore a wing from the duck.†   (source)
  • When Gregory Illea took the throne more than eighty years ago and his elder son, Spencer, died suddenly, the entire country mourned the loss of such an enigmatic and promising young man.†   (source)
  • Then Ajihad stated, "You are an enigma, Eragon, a quandary that no one knows how to solve.†   (source)
  • During his eleven years as Consul on that distant and enigmatic world, the mysterious Church of the Shrike had allowed a dozen barges of offworld pilgrims to depart for the windswept barrens around the Time Tombs, north of the mountains.†   (source)
  • She looked mournfully and enigmatically at her mother and Laura as they came in.†   (source)
  • You're such an enigma."†   (source)
  • I acknowledged his goodby and watched him leave the room and walk up to the house, shaking his head. lie wasn't the first to wonder about this enigma of a boy, who looked like he could choke the life out of you one minute and then recite a poem in another.†   (source)
  • And they call me an enigma.†   (source)
  • Because I was at his side more or less all day, I had slowly come to unlock the enigma of his speech.†   (source)
  • I saw Heinrich staring down at me, an enigmatic grin on his face.†   (source)
  • Surprisingly, Baby Kochamma accepted this explanation, and the enigmatic, secretly thrilling notion of Men's Needs gained implicit sanction in the Ayemenem House.†   (source)
  • The Morrigan's children, he said enigmatically.†   (source)
  • Tall, clean-shaven, and wearing his dark master's robes, he reminded me of the enigmatic Silent Doctor character present in many Modegan plays.†   (source)
  • These enigmatic responses of DeWeese gave Phaedrus the idea that DeWeese had access to a huge terrain of hidden understanding.†   (source)
  • Pumpkin gave a little bow, which I thought very enigmatic.†   (source)
  • ...he found himself hopelessly fascinated by the enigma of the girl's disappearance.†   (source)
  • As much as I love her, I admit that she has always remained somewhat of an enigma to me.†   (source)
  • Sayyed Salam Ghodsi, whom we called Baba Hajji, was an enigma.†   (source)
  • When I saw Africa again, Africa came back whole, alive, shining with remembered enigma.†   (source)
  • He laughed over his shoulder, an enigmatic laugh.†   (source)
  • Where was my enigmatic bunkie, that supremely self-possessed woman?†   (source)
  • They're the ones who made the Enigma break-through in 1939, not the Brits.†   (source)
  • She was an enigma to him.†   (source)
  • Her smile is enigmatic.†   (source)
  • The serpent's head lay mute and enigmatic.†   (source)
  • The gunslinger caught another fascinating glimpse of the steel that lay under the boy's surface, as enigmatic as the story he had told about coming from a city where the buildings were so tall they actually scraped the sky.†   (source)
  • I was all enigmatic, which is not easy in a beret.†   (source)
  • "Better a dead father than an absent one," Blanca enigmatically replied, and she never mentioned it again.†   (source)
  • He was disappointed, but not inclined to believe Yossarian, for he had been given a sign, a secret, enigmatic vision that he still lacked the boldness to divulge.†   (source)
  • I studied the faces, each one an enigma, no two alike.†   (source)
  • By leaving the popular crowd, Michael Sherwood became an enigma.†   (source)
  • His skin, just this morning an interesting enigma, was now deliciously brown and smooth.†   (source)
  • It was not merely the background of wealth and gracious living, to which I was alien, but simply the being there with her and the sensed possibility of a heightened communication; as though the discordantly invisible and the conspicuously enigmatic were reaching a delicately balanced harmony.†   (source)
  • Considering the viciousness of the enemies pursuing the enigmatic Dr. Tucker, however, Demi's circumspection was understandable.†   (source)
  • "An enigma," said the sergeant.†   (source)
  • Enigmatically, the president's informal aquatic habits belie the fact that he is the polar opposite of his easygoing vice president.†   (source)
  • I don't know, Will," he answered enigmatically.†   (source)
  • Who knew love could be such an enigma?†   (source)
  • Man is a great enough creature and a great enough enigma to deserve both our pride and our compassion, and engage our fullest sense of mystery.†   (source)
  • The dwarf had been an enigma to Wulfgar in the early days of their relationship.†   (source)
  • She had listened to the priest say that death was merely the beginning, that in God's enigmatic way this was a time for rejoicing, not sorrow, and then she did not listen anymore.†   (source)
  • Phil was always kind of an enigma in the hunting industry.†   (source)
  • At this moment, it is as enigmatic as the monolith from 2001 ….†   (source)
  • No enigma, no dignity, nothing classical, portentous, only this...†   (source)
  • Oedipa sat through two Yogi Bears, one Magilla Gorilla and a Peter Potamus, staring at Clerk Maxwell's enigmatic profile, waiting for the Demon to communicate.†   (source)
  • Perhaps, too, it was absurd or offensive of her to be so enigmatic, so ostentatiously secretive about something which, after all, should be common knowledge by now to almost everybody.†   (source)
  • Cal was an enigma to him.†   (source)
  • He studied the paper unhappily, sharply remembering his younger son's face, arrogant and sullen, handsome as his mother's face (except for those ears, long as an elephant's ears, and red)--quick to sneer, quick to smile, as hers was, a face as delicate as his own was blunt: his own, or Will's, or his daughter Mary Lou's--the face of Luke Hodge in whom all that was subtly wrong, for obscure reasons contemptible, in W. B. Hodge, Attorney at Law, came into enigmatic focus.†   (source)
  • Doris glanced up, her expression enigmatic, her eyes flickering from me to Colin.†   (source)
  • They also kept a big, fluffy tomcat who spent his time in immobile contemplation, looking enigmatic.†   (source)
  • However detailed may have been our study of his life, each man remains something of an enigma.†   (source)
  • In his violence he was only treating of enigma.†   (source)
  • I hung over his head, enigmatic, unrelieved, terrifying.†   (source)
  • I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.   (source)
  • I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.   (source)
  • By keenly confronting the enigmas that surround us, and by considering and analysing the observations that I have made, I ended up in the domain of mathematics, Although I am absolutely without training in the exact sciences, I often seem to have more in common with mathematicians than with my fellow artists.   (source)
  • But his thoughts seemed to stumble in the darkness of some not-solved enigma, and soon he fell silent.   (source)
  • But the future life--it is such an enigma!   (source)
    enigma = mystery
  • seek what could have been the thought concealed beneath those enigmatic words   (source)
    enigmatic = mysterious and seemingly unexplainable
  • He had simply babbled on uttering empty phrases, letting slip a few enigmatic words and again reverting to incoherence.   (source)
    enigmatic = mysterious and seeming unexplainable
  • Socrates (470-399 B.C.) is possibly the most enigmatic figure in the entire history of philosophy.†   (source)
  • I just shrug and give him an enigmatic smile.†   (source)
  • Jacob called to me, his voice wary, scrutinizing the motorcycle with an enigmatic expression.†   (source)
  • Both Jesus and Socrates were enigmatic personalities, also to their contemporaries.†   (source)
  • To him or her, the world continues to seem a bit unreasonable—bewildering, even enigmatic.†   (source)
  • Her mother looked at her with an enigmatic expression.†   (source)
  • Many years ago, several of our spellweavers devoted themselves to defeating time's enigmas.†   (source)
  • Varys had laid a finger on his cheek, smiling enigmatically.†   (source)
  • But fathers and their ways are enigmatic.†   (source)
  • Remember what Ben said about the enigmatic alien thing?†   (source)
  • "Put rock salt on the trail," he added enigmatically.†   (source)
  • ' "Who among us"?' asked the clerk enigmatically.†   (source)
  • The enigmatic ring of those words will remain inside Takahashi as a kind of metaphor.†   (source)
  • Philon's lips twist into an enigmatic smile.†   (source)
  • Don't worry, dear friend," General Moncada said enigmatically.†   (source)
  • Oromis closed his eyes for a moment, his expression withdrawn and enigmatic.†   (source)
  • "Men demand much more than you think," she would tell her enigmatically.†   (source)
  • "Cute, real cute," said Conklin enigmatically.†   (source)
  • "The presence of the Soviets was both alarming and enigmatic," continued the count.†   (source)
  • Sometimes at night her face floats before me in the darkness, like some lovely and enigmatic mirage — But excuse my brain-sick ramblings.†   (source)
  • Inside the control room, Katherine stood in the soft glow of the plasma wall and gazed up at the enigmatic document they had uncovered.†   (source)
  • Believe me I've never wanted to be human, though there are, I believe, some advantages, she added enigmatically.†   (source)
  • In any event, the apparel imposed by necessity became, from that time on and for the rest of his life, the kind best suited to his enigmatic nature and solemn character.†   (source)
  • In 1973, Bill posted an enigmatic letter alluding vaguely to plans for an extended trip and then disappeared without a trace; to this day nobody knows what became of him.†   (source)
  • His earlier incarnations--the decadent Capitol heartthrob I met before the Quell, the enigmatic ally in the arena, the broken young man who tried to help me hold it together--these have been replaced by someone who radiates life.†   (source)
  • The Mona Lisa's status as the most famous piece of art in the world, Langdon knew, had nothing to do with her enigmatic smile.†   (source)
  • The soft, enigmatic voice, combined with his new body, his wealth, and his refusal to speak about his mysterious past, served as catnip for the women who met him.†   (source)
  • It was a dream at once so enigmatic and so amusing that he enjoyed it for the rest of the afternoon as he played dominoes with the Captain and two of the passengers who were friends of his.†   (source)
  • Solomon gave an enigmatic shrug.†   (source)
  • When they flew away, they took McCandless s remains, a camera with five rolls of exposed film, the SOS note, and a diary, written across the last two pages of a field guide to edible plants, that recorded the young man's final weeks in 113 terse, enigmatic entries.†   (source)
  • His smile was enigmatic.†   (source)
  • Kneeling at the altar …. vowing to "forever conceal the enigmas existing within Freemasonry" …. consenting to the penalty of "having one's chest cavity ripped open and pulsing heart cast upon the surface of the earth as offal for the ravenous beasts" ….†   (source)
  • She saw him improve his manners, his timidity was passed off as a certain enigmatic distance, a slight increase in weight suited him, as did the slowness of age, and he had known how to handle his absolute baldness with dignity.†   (source)
  • This knowledge moved underground, resurfacing in Renaissance Europe, where, according to most accounts, it was entrusted to an elite group of scientists within the walls of Europe's premier scientific think tank—the Royal Society of London—enigmatically nicknamed the Invisible College.†   (source)
  • They left vomit and tears, which seemed understandable to her, but they also left many enigmas of intimacy: puddles of blood, patches of excrement, glass eyes, gold watches, false teeth, lockets with golden curls, love letters, business letters, condolence letters--all kinds of letters.†   (source)
  • As if this were not enigmatic enough, positioned carefully in the area around the encrypted S-wall were numerous other sculptural elements—granite slabs at odd angles, a compass rose, a magnetic lodestone, and even a message in Morse code that referenced "lucid memory" and "shadow forces."†   (source)
  • The very fact that he was so enigmatic and ambiguous made it possible for widely differing schools of thought to claim him as their own.†   (source)
  • On the other hand, it seemed strange to her that Florentino Ariza would persist in his mystic attire and his rare lotions, and that he would continue to be so enigmatic after making his way in life in so spectacular and honorable a manner.†   (source)
  • "If you only knew how much he orders people around," said Hilde enigmatically, "and you can't imagine how much he enjoys it."†   (source)
  • The Order of the Rose Cross—or more formally the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis—had an enigmatic history that had greatly influenced science and closely paralleled the legend of the Ancient Mysteries …. early sages possessing secret wisdom that was passed down through the ages and studied by only the brightest minds.†   (source)
  • Even during his lifetime he was considered somewhat enigmatic, and fairly soon after his death he was held to be the founder of any number of different philosophical schools of thought.†   (source)
  • Nature is full of enigmas.†   (source)
  • Her friends had sent her pitying glances, but she was secretly thrilled to be spending time with the quiet, enigmatic boy who somehow seemed wise beyond his years.†   (source)
  • He gave her an enigmatic smile.†   (source)
  • And she loved the mermaided columns she saw on lower Fifth and all the oddnesses, the enigmatic figures she could not place in particular myth, mainly downtown, atop the older banks, on the parapets and setbacks—robed oracles jutting over the streets or helmeted men of unrevealing aspect, lawgivers or warriors, it was hard to tell.†   (source)
  • Silhouetted by the swirling gloom of the Winterlands, an enigmatic half smile on her lips, she is even more beautiful than usual.†   (source)
  • He was not certain exactly what the dragon had meant by it, as Glaedr had refused to say anything more after delivering his enigmatic statement, so Eragon had chosen to interpret his instruction literally.†   (source)
  • To others, like Theresa, he was the enigmatic college quarterback who could have made pro if not for the drugs.†   (source)
  • He disliked the elves' formality, but most of all, he hated trying to interpret their enigmatic statements.†   (source)
  • And though even Duntz had forfeited his composure-had shed, along with tie and coat, his enigmatic drowsy dignity-the suspect seemed content and serene; he refused to budge.†   (source)
  • Helen and Ralph had agreed that they would have a second family in a few years, another two, who with luck would be boys; but in the meantime, Mona and Callie were as soft as their brothers would be, as enigmatic, bullheaded, goofy.†   (source)
  • The outlines of the truth were being presented to him, shape by enigmatic shape, each more startling than the last.†   (source)
  • ""Yeah," Tyler said enigmatically.†   (source)
  • In 1959, at age nineteen, the slightly built, somewhat handsome, enigmatic drifter decided to leave the United States of America, convinced that his socialist beliefs would be embraced in the Soviet Union.†   (source)
  • My son, the Holy Church is on the right, but Jesus Christ was always on the left," he would say enigmatically between sips of the wine he used at mass, which he served to celebrate Pedro's visits.†   (source)
  • Enigmatic.†   (source)
  • Davos asked her then how it was that Ser Axell had learned the trick of it so quickly, but to that she only smiled enigmatically and said, "Any cat may stare into a fire and see red mice at play."†   (source)
  • The eye in the shadowed side of Lisa's smooth face was dark and enigmatic, but the eye in the lamplit half revealed emotional turmoil as she responded to the description that Joe gave her.†   (source)
  • Wainwright was petite, with green cat eyes, an enigmatic smile, and a college education—most of the other black women worshipped her on sight.†   (source)
  • I've not been inside a house since the day I hatched, and I find enigmas difficult that deal with domestic subjects.†   (source)
  • What it wants to do is exclude the encroaching world of reality and go on sleeping without end in a soft, enigmatic darkness.†   (source)
  • The day's events had altered Joe's perception of everything, so it seemed he was looking at the world through a pair of peculiar glasses won in a game of chance on the midway of a mysterious carnival that traveled from venue to venue in whisper-quiet black trains, spectacles with the power not to distort the world but to reveal a secret dimension that was enigmatic, cold, and fearsome.†   (source)
  • Despite—or perhaps even because of—the violence, the civil rights movement continues to gain momentum, and Robert Kennedy is now paying close attention to one of its most prominent leaders, a thirty-three-year-old charismatic Baptist minister named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend King is as intense and enigmatic as President Kennedy.†   (source)
  • Garzhvog turned his head and gazed through the coil of his left horn at Eragon, a deep-set yellow eye gleaming with some enigmatic emotion.†   (source)
  • 'If that appears enigmatic to you, Mr Undersecretary, I'm afraid it's all I can offer at this juncture.'†   (source)
  • In her eyes of midnight blue, In those enigmatic pools, Appeared to him a future bright, Together, where they would not have To fear the foe in Durza, In the land of shadows.†   (source)
  • 'Food for revisionist thought,' shouted Jason enigmatically, as he raced back to the body of Sheng Chou Yang.†   (source)
  • He is an enigmatic man.†   (source)
  • Aureliano, who was the man of the house, confused her further with his enigmatic and final opinion: "These are not times to go around thinking about weddings."†   (source)
  • Her countenance became one of enigmatic observation: a beautiful mask that concealed her thoughts and feelings, and one that Eragon could not penetrate, no matter how hard he strove.†   (source)
  • "I'm sure there's a reason," stated Bernardine, still looking at the enigmatically passive face of Dominique Lavier.†   (source)
  • To a neighbor woman who brought her a set of candles so that she could light up the picture of her lost lover with them, she said with an enigmatic security: "The only candle that will make him come is always lighted."†   (source)
  • As if to confirm his suspicions, he spotted Solembum in his usual form of a cat with large, tufted ears lurking behind the corner of a nearby tent, watching the proceedings with enigmatic yellow eyes.†   (source)
  • The new place seemed to please Melquiades, because he was never seen any more, not even in the dining room, He only went to Aureliano's workshop, where he would spend hours on end scribbling his enigmatic literature on the parchments that he had brought with him and that seemed to have been made out of some dry material that crumpled like puff paste.†   (source)
  • With those enigmatic words the attorney whipped around, and raced across the room, fumbling in his trousers pocket.†   (source)
  • His thoughts returned to the enigmatic Santos, the premier conduit in Carlos's army, the most trusted satellite in the Jackal's orbit, a man whose French might have been formed at the Sorbonne, yet Santos was a Latin American.†   (source)
  • And in the morning shadows, from an orifice filled with cracked teeth, he shed upon Sophie a luminous, enigmatic smile.†   (source)
  • Then she smiled again, a mysterious, enigmatic smile that was full of wisdom, "Love of Life," and perhaps pain.†   (source)
  • Mucho Maas, enigmatic, whistling "I Want to Kiss Your Feet," a new recording by Sick Dick and the Volkswagens (an English group he was fond of at that time but did not believe in), stood with hands in pockets while she explained about going down to San Narciso for a while to look into Pierces books and records and confer with Metzger, the co-executor.†   (source)
  • She had never understood the vaguest thing about his laboratory research but had listened faithfully and remained an attentive one-woman gallery for his complex disquisitions on physiology and the chemical enigmas of the human body.†   (source)
  • But I was soon finished, for I realized that there was very little I could tell about this man; he had appeared out of the mists of history to commit his gigantic deed in one blinding cataclysmic explosion, then faded as enigmatically as he had come, leaving no explanation for himself, no identity, no after-image, nothing but his name.†   (source)
  • Langdon's friends had always viewed him as a bit of an enigma-a man caught between centuries.†   (source)
  • How can they ignore an enigma like the Tombs?†   (source)
  • She also calls me Double-E, for Eric Enigma.†   (source)
  • Salander became more and more of an enigma to him.†   (source)
  • A variable enigma which occasionally offers unusual insights into more serious lines of analysis.†   (source)
  • Kryptos was art …. but it was also an enigma.†   (source)
  • The Drow was an enigma to him, a confusing combination of fighting brilliance and absolute control.†   (source)
  • "An oversight," replied Conklin, pulling his mind back to the brutal enigma that was Delta-Cain.†   (source)
  • Like the polarity of her curious emotional blend, Catti-brie also proved an enigma physically.†   (source)
  • What he saw, what he felt about what he saw, could be translated exactly or left as an enigma.†   (source)
  • A man is taken out, the police believing he's one person, the death an enigma, killers unknown.†   (source)
  • Your assumption's correct unless they've come up with a new type of Enigma, which is unlikely.†   (source)
  • Yamacraw was an enigma to the minions who gathered under Piedmont's protective wing.†   (source)
  • He raised it to eye-level, and sighted towards that impossible, mind-shaking enigma.†   (source)
  • Since Sophie told me this I have brooded often upon the enigma of Dr. Jemand von Niemand.†   (source)
  • My goal as always was an enigma, although it seemed to have something vaguely to do with a lost dog.†   (source)
  • Enigma.†   (source)
  • It was titillating to brush up against the enigma of mortality, to steal a glimpse across its forbidden frontier.†   (source)
  • There is no evidence anywhere that he ever thought of his expulsion from the university as a failure, just an enigma.†   (source)
  • Yes, yes, we like see men-u. Sherpas remain an enigma to most foreigners, who tend to regard them through a romantic scrim.†   (source)
  • Only then did I remember what the beauty of the meadow had driven from my mind — the enigma of Edward and the sun, which he'd promised to illustrate for me today.†   (source)
  • He was away in a mystery, locked in the enigma that young Southern Black boys start to unravel, start to try to unravel, from seven years old to death.†   (source)
  • Because she no longer needed him, because she was now a crucial and measurable driver of world commerce, and because she had two men at the Circle to choose from—one of them a volcanic, calligraphic enigma who climbed walls to take her from behind—she could afford to be generous toward poor Mercer, his shaggy head and grotesque fatty back.†   (source)
  • In the bizarre underworld of modern Grail seekers, Leonardo da Vinci remained the quest's great enigma.†   (source)
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