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Definitions for Sphinx

[1] (in ancient Egypt) a figure of an imaginary creature having the head of a man or an animal and the body of a lion. (usually initial capital letter ) the colossal recumbent stone figure of this kind near the pyramids of Giza.
[2] (initial capital letter ) Classical Mythology . a monster, usually represented as having the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. Seated on a rock outside of Thebes, she proposed a riddle to travelers, killing them when they answered incorrectly, as all did before Oedipus. When he answered her riddle correctly the Sphinx killed herself.
[3] any similar monster.
[4] a mysterious, inscrutable person or thing, especially one given to enigmatic questions or answers.
[5] any of a number of huge stone statues built by the ancient Egyptians, having the body of a lion and the head of a man
[6] an inscrutable person
[7] Greek myth a monster with a woman's head and a lion's body. She lay outside Thebes, asking travellers a riddle and killing them when they failed to answer it. Oedipus answered the riddle and the Sphinx then killed herself
[8] the huge statue of a sphinx near the pyramids at El Gîza in Egypt, of which the head is a carved portrait of the fourth-dynasty Pharaoh, Chephrēn

Words related to Sphinx

riddle, conundrum, subtlety, question, enigma, secrecy, problem, thriller, puzzlement, puzzle, mystification, perplexity, stickler, cliffhanger, twister, occult, cryptogram, crux, difficulty, poser

Words nearby Sphinx

sphingolipidosis, sphingomyelin, sphingomyelin lipidosis, sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase, sphingosine, sphinx, sphinx moth, sphinxlike, sphragistic, sphragistics, sphygmic

Origin of Sphinx

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin < Greek sphínx, equivalent to sphing-, base of sphíngein to hold tight (cf. sphincter) + -s nominative singular ending

Word origin for Sphinx

C16: via Latin from Greek, apparently from sphingein to hold fast

Synonyms for Sphinx

conundrum, enigma, problem, question, riddle, secrecy, subtlety, thriller, abstruseness, charade, chiller, cliffhanger, crux, cryptogram, difficulty, grabber, inscrutability, mystification, occult, oracle, perplexity, poser, puzzlement, rebus, rune, stickler, stumper, teaser, twister, whodunit, why, brainteaser, braintwister, closed book, inscrutableness, mindboggler, sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, tough nut to crack