What does the word enigma mean?

Usage examples for enigma

  1. But you must recollect that when I say I think it is either Mr. Darwin's hypothesis or nothing; that either we must take his view, or look upon the whole of organic nature as an enigma, the meaning of which is wholly hidden from us; you must understand that I mean that I accept it provisionally, in exactly the same way as I accept any other hypothesis." – Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work by P. Chalmers Mitchell
  2. The inner conditions of life have in both respects shown a greater independence than Darwin had supposed in his theory, though he always admitted that the cause of variation was to him a great enigma, " a most perplexing problem," and that the struggle for life could only occur where variation existed. – Darwin and Modern Science by A.C. Seward and Others
  3. No, my lord, why Valdriguez returned to Geralton is an enigma, I grant you, but your explanation does not satisfy me. – Who? by Elizabeth Kent
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