Usually means: Paradoxical anecdote for spiritual insight.
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We found 23 dictionaries that define the word koan:

General (18 matching dictionaries)
  1. koan: Merriam-Webster
  2. koan: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  3. koan: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  4. koan: Collins English Dictionary
  5. koan: Vocabulary.com
  6. Koan, koan: Wordnik
  7. koan: Wiktionary
  8. koan: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.
  9. koan: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus
  10. koan: Infoplease Dictionary
  11. koan: Dictionary.com
  12. koan: Online Etymology Dictionary
  13. KOAN (AM), KOAN (company), KOAN, Koan (program), Koan: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
  14. koan: Rhymezone
  15. koan: FreeDictionary.org
  16. koan: The Phrontistery - A Dictionary of Obscure Words
  17. koan: Mnemonic Dictionary
  18. koan: TheFreeDictionary.com

Computing (2 matching dictionaries)
  1. koan: Netlingo
  2. koan: Encyclopedia

Miscellaneous (1 matching dictionary)
  1. KOAN: Acronym Finder

Religion (1 matching dictionary)
  1. Irivng Hexham's Concise Dictionary of Religion (No longer online)

Slang (1 matching dictionary)
  1. koan: Urban Dictionary

(Note: See koans as well.)

Definitions from Wiktionary (koan)

noun:  (Zen Buddhism) A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechanisms in the Zen student’s mind leading to satori.
noun:  A riddle with no solution, used to provoke reflection on the inadequacy of logical reasoning, and to lead to enlightenment.
noun:  A therapy technique used by Traditional Chinese medicinal physicians or medical practitioners to break a presenting patients habitual pattern of thinking that has been diagnosed as the primary cause of an illness or disease.

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