Enigmatic

ˌɛnɪɡˈmætɪk

adjective

difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious

The word 'enigmatic' comes from the Greek word 'ainigma,' which means 'riddle' or 'mystery.' It is often used to describe something or someone that is puzzling and hard to figure out.

She fixed him with an enigmatic smile that might have said, Don't worry, Ralph-you were just another part of the scenery to me.

Stephen King

Insomnia

Against Moat Cailin?” He gave her an enigmatic smile.

George R. R. Martin

A Storm of Swords

Beyond that there was nothing but a haze that would sometimes lift a tiny bit, just enough to afford a glimpse of some enigmatic object or memory (Boo Dinkway, for instance .

King, Stephen

The Stand

Her expression became enigmatic.

Dick, Philip K.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

He gave Dunk an enigmatic smile.

George R.R. Martin

The Tales of Dunk & Egg

Thought is moved in its most sombre depths, social philosophy is bidden to its most poignant meditations, in the presence of that enigmatic dialect at once so blighted and rebellious.

Victor Hugo

Les Misérables

In her enigmatic remoteness Jenny was a little disquieting.

Aldous Huxley

Crome Yellow

I was at first unable to solve these questions, but perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which were at first enigmatic.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus

He strikes a match and proceeds to light the cigarette with enigmatic melancholy.

James Joyce

Ulysses

This explained the empty streets, Anteac’s enigmatic “Yes.” It explained many things.

Frank Herbert

God Emperor of Dune

“But I thought you might have the mouth organ or something.”Dumbledore beamed at him, peering over the top of his half-moon spectacles.“Very astute, Harry, but the mouth organ was only ever a mouth organ.”And on that enigmatic note he waved to Harry, who understood himself to be dismissed.

J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I knew a young lady of the last “romantic” generation who after some years of an enigmatic passion for a gentleman, whom she might quite easily have married at any moment, invented insuperable obstacles to their union, and ended by throwing herself one stormy night into a rather deep and rapid river from a high bank, almost a precipice, and so perished, entirely to satisfy her own caprice, and to be like Shakespeare’s Ophelia.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

Brilliant, enigmatic, lovely Cinna is dead because of me.

Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay

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.

Heller, Joseph

Catch-22