Conundrum

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Conundrum \Co*nun"drum\, n. [Origin unknown.]
     1. A kind of riddle based upon some fanciful or fantastic
        resemblance between things quite unlike; a puzzling
        question, of which the answer is or involves a pun.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              Or pun ambiguous, or conundrum quaint. --J. Philips.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A question to which only a conjectural answer can be made.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Do you think life is long enough to let me speculate
              on conundrums like that?              --W. Black.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  conundrum
       n : a difficult problem [syn: {riddle}, {enigma}, {brain-teaser}]