(n.) A dark, obscure, or inexplicable saying; a riddle; a statement, the hidden meaning of which is to be discovered or guessed.
(n.) An action, mode of action, or thing, which cannot be satisfactorily explained; a puzzle; as, his conduct is an enigma.
Example Sentences:
(1) The nature of the putative autoantigen in Graves' ophthalmopathy (Go) remains an enigma but the sequence similarity between thyroglobulin (Tg) and acetylcholinesterase (ACHE) provides a rationale for epitopes which are common to the thyroid gland and the eye orbit.
(2) The role of growth hormone (GH) and the related placental lactogens in implantation and subsequent embryonic and fetal development is an enigma.
(3) The exact association between psoriasis and arthritis remains an enigma.
(4) And then there is the great enigma of that involuntary separation inflicted by the death of those without whom we would never have wanted to live.
(5) An apparent enigma during platelet aggregation is that increased glycogenolysis occurs despite a fall in cyclic AMP levels; Activation by a classical cascade is therefore unlikely, and an alternative stimulus for phosphorylase a formation was sought.
(6) This triad is currently an enigma in the field of internal medicine.
(7) Rectal carcinoma remains an enigma to surgical and medical oncologists.
(8) Most of the known central actions of angiotensin II, for example the regulation of blood pressure and of electrolyte and water balance, seem to be mediated by the AT1 receptor, while the role of the AT2 receptor is still an enigma.
(9) What they say "You are an enigma wrapped in a riddle nestled in a sesame seed bun of mystery" – Stephen Colbert
(10) We believe that the "missing pathway" for factor XI activation remains an enigma that warrants further investigation.
(11) He, of course, disclaimed his commitment, telling an American admirer that he was "a person who prefers life to art, and who knows it is a far finer thing to be in love…" The record of his creativity suggests the opposite, only adding to the aura of enigma that still surrounds him.
(12) Against this background the present study was performed, and it has been shown that the resolution to the enigma is that there are two different populations of bipolar cells in the rat visual cortex.
(13) The biologic background to the clinical behavior of these metastasizing tumors remains an enigma.
(14) The author argues that the similarity of the Bushman trance state, kia and that of drug-induced altered states of consciousness has been paid too little attention in the research, and that an enigma currently exists with regard to the degree to which plant drugs may have influenced the !Kung trance phenomenon and healing beliefs.
(15) In many ways the problem of diaphragmatic hernia is as much of an enigma to today's physician-scientist as it was to Bochdalek in the nineteenth century.
(16) The treatment of keloids continues to be an enigma to the surgeon and the patient as well.
(17) And we need to declare war on them.” The rhetoric injected renewed urgency into the effort to unlock the enigma of a couple who had lived quietly and privately with their six-month-old daughter.
(18) Facial palsy is a distressing nonfatal disorder that creates an emotional crisis for the patient and often a therapeutic enigma for the physician.
(19) The function of the third one called the tissue type is still an enigma.
(20) A variety of pharmacologic manipulations were employed to help solve this enigma.
Enigmatic
Definition:
(a.) Alt. of Enigmatical
Example Sentences:
(1) The molecular nature of this group of agents is enigmatic, for neither an agent-specific nucleic acid nor a non-host protein has yet been identified.
(2) The recent discovery that an age-old drug, colchicine, can control this enigmatic, often unrecognized, recurrent disease means that most affected individuals can now lead virtually normal lives.
(3) This paper suggests several possible functions for this enigmatic compound or its metabolites.
(4) The possible etiological factors, manifestations and therapy of the enigmatic respiratory distress syndrome are discussed.
(5) We aren't surprised that the Romans had nothing to say about, say, the nearby Avebury stone circle, because it's far less manifest than Stonehenge – and by extension, the oblivion of time that blankets scores of British Neolithic and bronze age sites is in keeping with our current ignorance: to this day, so few people visit them that their enigmatic character is itself underimagined.
(6) Nevertheless a good deal remains enigmatical and further studies will be as interesting as actual.
(7) He smiled enigmatically when the questions turned to Greece and the possibility of a country leaving the euro, before dismissing such talk as "not being the working assumption of mine or any government".
(8) "His driver was built like a bodyguard, had a mouthful of gold teeth and when I asked where he was from he answered, enigmatically, 'From up north'," said Mr Galloway.
(9) This paper demonstrates that beta-glucosidase can catalyse the hydrolysis of a natural glycoside, and may provide a key to understanding the function of this enigmatic enzyme.
(10) The poetry of Williams and Eliot and Pound demonstrated that things, assembled even as enigmatic fragments, as images without spelled-out emotional and logical connectives, give vitality to the language and immediacy to the communication between writer and reader.
(11) Work of the past 20 years shows that flash synchrony is widespread geographically and taxonomically, appears in an astonishing range of spectacular display types, utilizes several neural flash-control mechanisms and is pervasively but enigmatically involved in courtship.
(12) Here, too, Capote displayed uncanny journalistic skills, capturing even the most languid and enigmatic of subjects – Brando in his pomp – and eliciting the kinds of confidences that left the actor reflecting ruefully on his "unutterable foolishness".
(13) Few infectious agents have provoked the many misconceptions that plague this enigmatic parasitic ameba.
(14) Perilymph fistula, an abnormal communication between the inner ear and the middle ear, is an enigmatic otologic disorder which may present with auditory or vestibular symptoms.
(15) Enigmatic and elusive, they may have named themselves after the US video director because they enjoy his work, or it may be a wry comment on something or other.
(16) The rarity of the tumor, particularly with regard to the anatomical location, is impressive as well as enigmatic.
(17) The enigmatic epileptic-epileptoid characteristics of EEG in migraineurs could be an expression of the electrically hyperactive "quasi epileptic foci" located mainly within the brainstem and generated by the insufficient opioid inhibition of sP-ergic neurons.
(18) One thing that most experts agree on is that the pope is enigmatic: while he seems to espouse liberal values on some days, raising the hopes of progressive Catholics of a changing church, his staunch adherence to conservative doctrine proves that he is not the radical reformer many liberals might wish that he was.
(19) It is believed that the nucleoside, produced locally, exerts a modulatory role on the neurohormonal output via still enigmatic mechanisms, involving a transmembranous carrier.
(20) The enigmatic patience of the sentences, the pedantic syntax, the peculiar antiquity of the diction, the strange recessed distance of the writing, in which everything seems milky and sub-aqueous, just beyond reach – all of this gives Sebald his particular flavour, so that sometimes it seems that we are reading not a particular writer but an emanation of literature.