Enigmatic: meaning and SAT practice
Enigmatic (adjective) means: Mysterious and difficult to understand or explain.
Enigmatic in a sentence
The artist's enigmatic smile in the portrait has fascinated viewers for centuries.
Similar: mysterious, cryptic, puzzling, obscure, inscrutable. Opposite: clear, obvious, transparent.
SAT-style practice: what does “enigmatic” most nearly mean?
The artist's enigmatic smile in the portrait has fascinated viewers for centuries.
As used in the sentence, “enigmatic” most nearly means
- sociable
- mysterious
- sad
- enormous
Show the answer
Answer: B. “enigmatic” means: Mysterious and difficult to understand or explain. “mysterious” is the closest match in this sentence. The other choices are real SAT-level words, but none of them carries that meaning here.
On the digital SAT this is the “Words in Context” skill, about 7 of the 54 Reading and Writing questions. The test asks what a word means as used in the passage, so a word’s most common meaning is not always the answer. More of these, with full explanations, are on SAT Words in Context practice questions.
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