as in mystery
something hard to understand or explain
the conundrum of how an ancient people were able to build such massive structures without the benefit of today's knowledge and technology
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Recent Examples of conundrum
One conundrum that lingers in the marketplace is that some indie theatrical distributors are without a pay-one deal/streaming partner, and the subset that’s willing to pony up — sellers cite Hulu, HBO Max and Starz — is quite small and capped in cash.
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Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2025
This is a conundrum for the Democrats.
—Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 3 Sep. 2025
And, because of that uncertainty, these pharmacists at CVS and Walgreens who were giving the vaccine are in a conundrum about how to handle all this.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2025
In elegant, ambitious prose, Thien more than hints at many modern conundrums—like the refugee crisis.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for conundrum
Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2025
This is a conundrum for the Democrats.
—Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 3 Sep. 2025
And, because of that uncertainty, these pharmacists at CVS and Walgreens who were giving the vaccine are in a conundrum about how to handle all this.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2025
In elegant, ambitious prose, Thien more than hints at many modern conundrums—like the refugee crisis.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for conundrum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for conundrum
Noun
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Some scholars countered that Venusian volcanoes could have produced phosphine; others said that the measurements were dubious, and the mystery gas wasn’t phosphine.—
David W. Brown,
New Yorker,
13 Sep. 2025
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The music feels like a murder mystery caper, propelled by urgency yet never losing its lightness.—
Sheila Regan,
Twin Cities,
13 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Over time, the fate of the footage has become one of the biggest enigmas in Hollywood history.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025
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More Michael Owens/Getty Images Leonard has always been regarded as an enigma because of his chronic injury problems and his extremely introverted (and some would say odd) personality.—
Robert Marvi,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Conundrum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/conundrum. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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