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
The first rule of a pitching conundrum like this is that everything will probably work itself out.
—
Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 2 June 2025
There is another way out of the conundrum if the Capitol’s politicians want to take it — raise taxes.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 6 June 2025
The rise of one of this season’s greatest scene-stealers makes for a challenging conundrum — how far does the apple fall from the tree?
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 3 June 2025
The question buzzing around Philadelphia on Wednesday is a moral conundrum: Should the Phillies retaliate for Braves pitcher Spencer Strider drilling Bryce Harper with a 95-mph fastball in the elbow on Tuesday night?
—Anthony Stitt, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for conundrum
Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 2 June 2025
There is another way out of the conundrum if the Capitol’s politicians want to take it — raise taxes.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 6 June 2025
The rise of one of this season’s greatest scene-stealers makes for a challenging conundrum — how far does the apple fall from the tree?
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 3 June 2025
The question buzzing around Philadelphia on Wednesday is a moral conundrum: Should the Phillies retaliate for Braves pitcher Spencer Strider drilling Bryce Harper with a 95-mph fastball in the elbow on Tuesday night?
—Anthony Stitt, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for conundrum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for conundrum
Noun
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With the entire dataset open to the public, the team hopes the fresh eyes, as well as graduate and undergraduate astronomers, will uncover something new and unlock clues about cosmic mysteries like dark matter and the physics of the early universe.—
Jay Kakade
June 22,
New Atlas,
22 June 2025
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But two new studies — which researchers say are among the biggest paleoanthropology papers of the year — detail how scientists were able to extract genetic material from the fossil and help unravel this biological mystery.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN Money,
21 June 2025
Noun
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But Bryan was widely seen as suffering a humiliating defeat in public opinion, with his sputtering attempts to explain the Bible’s fanciful miracles and enigmas.—
Peter Smith,
Los Angeles Times,
25 May 2025
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Bacon’s Castle was originally built by Arthur Allen, who remains something of an enigma to historians, according to the National Park Service.—
Mark Price,
Miami Herald,
2 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Conundrum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/conundrum. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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