Associations to the word «Enigma»

Wiktionary

ENIGMA, noun. Something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable.
ENIGMA, noun. A riddle, or a difficult problem.
ENIGMA, proper noun. A German device used during World War II to encode strategic messages
ENIGMA MACHINE, proper noun. A small portable electro-mechanical rotor machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages, made famous by Germany in WWII
ENIGMA MACHINE, proper noun. Fig. something which decrypts or makes understandable something enigmatic (see quotation)

Dictionary definition

ENIGMA, noun. Something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained; "how it got out is a mystery"; "it remains one of nature's secrets".
ENIGMA, noun. A difficult problem.

Wise words

Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.
Noam Chomsky