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Enigma machine

noun

A small portable electro-mechanical rotor machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages, made famous by Germany in WWII.

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Meanings

nounEnigma machine (plural Enigma machines)

plural Enigma machines

historicalA small portable electro-mechanical rotor machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages, made famous by Germany in WWII.
figurativelySomething which decrypts or makes understandable something enigmatic.
No one needed an Enigma machine to figure out why Jimmy Carter was recalling his days aboard a nuclear submarine.
2004, New Yorker, 9 - 16 August 2004, page 37

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Enigma machine

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Cite this entry

APA

Enigma machine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Enigma%20machine

MLA

“Enigma machine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Enigma%20machine. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Enigma machine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Enigma%20machine.

Source: Enigma machine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.