riddle wrapped in an enigma
1
9.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
un enigma envuelto en otro enigma
- Her true intentions were a riddle wrapped in an enigma to everyone around her.
Examples
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For historians, the ancient manuscript is a riddle wrapped in an enigma waiting to be solved.
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The disappearance of the explorer remains a riddle wrapped in an enigma even after decades of research.
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She is truly a riddle wrapped in an enigma!
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The new student is a riddle wrapped in an enigma to everyone.
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The ancient ruins are a riddle wrapped in an enigma, leaving historians puzzled about their origins.
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The artist's latest painting is a riddle wrapped in an enigma, provoking various interpretations among viewers.
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Although he spoke plainly, his true intentions felt like a riddle wrapped in an enigma to everyone around him.
Synonyms
660
4.7
Something that is hard to understand or explain
41
6.1
Something you do not know or cannot identify, for example a variable in math
33
8.1
A person or thing that is mysterious and hard to understand
1
8.8
A person or thing that is hard to understand and confuses people
A thing that people cannot understand or explain
A person whose thoughts or actions are hard to understand
How Mysterious
Surface Forms
Morphology
riddle + wrapped + in + an + enigma
The constituents ('riddle', 'wrapped in', 'enigma') directly evoke puzzlement — 'riddle' and 'enigma' are synonyms for something mysterious and 'wrapped in' conveys being enclosed—so a learner who knows the words can infer the sense 'very mysterious'. However, the phrase is a figurative, emphatic idiom rather than a literal composition, so its exact phrasing and rhetorical force are somewhat idiomatic and not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
The phrase riddle wrapped in an enigma gives the image of a small puzzle, a riddle, wrapped in another mystery, an enigma, like a box inside a box. So, it means 'very mysterious' or 'hard to understand'.