conundrum

[ kuh-nuhn-druhm ]

noun

1. a riddle, the answer to which involves a pun or play on words, as What is black and white and read all over? A newspaper.
2. anything that puzzles.

conundrum

/ kəˈnʌndrəm /

noun

1. a riddle, esp one whose answer makes a play on words
2. a puzzling question or problem

Word History and Origins

Origin of conundrum¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; pseudo-Latin word of obscure origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of conundrum¹

C16: of unknown origin

Example Sentences

Smartphone cameras automatically try to combat this conundrum by taking multiple pictures at different exposure levels, and then quickly mashing them together to try to even things out every time you press the button.

From Popular-Science

The pandemic has merely laid bare and made even starker the economic challenges Alberta was already facing—the essential conundrums of boom and bust at the heart of any oil region.

From Fortune

This, needless to say, is not a new conundrum, but one that philosophers have discussed for as long as there’ve been philosophers.

From Nautilus

That has created a little bit of a promotional conundrum for Scroll.

From Digiday

Primordial magnetism might also help resolve another cosmological conundrum known as the Hubble tension — probably the hottest topic in cosmology.

From Quanta Magazine

Public sector unions create a genuine political conundrum for Democrats.

From The Daily Beast

If, upon examining the Palmer conundrum, the answer occurs to you, call [phone].

From The Daily Beast

In fact, the communion conundrum highlights the first visible fissure in the church of Francis.

From The Daily Beast

This Fourth of July conundrum was addressed all the way back in 1907, in the esteemed medical journal JAMA.

From The Daily Beast

Take this lack of cooperative instinct and add a competitive situation, and Benenson says you get a real conundrum.

From The Daily Beast

We protest, too, against that class of cases where the metaphor becomes a species of conundrum.

From Project Gutenberg

And my conundrum was, Had I lectured my curate, or had my curate lectured me?

From Project Gutenberg

This was the feathered conundrum that flitted about before me.

From Project Gutenberg

The Irish cook one day proposed to the ship's captain the following conundrum: "Is anny thin' lost whin yeez know where 'tis?"

From Project Gutenberg

But I haven't really looked into the question since I gave the conundrum up twenty years ago, on what was then the best authority.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• enigma
• mystery
• riddle