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Literary notes about enigmatic (AI summary)

In literature, "enigmatic" is often used to create an air of mystery that both intrigues and unsettles the reader. Authors employ the word to describe characters with ambiguous expressions—whether it's an enigmatic smile that hints at hidden depths or secretive glances laden with meaning ([1], [2], [3])—or to characterize situations and objects that resist straightforward explanation, such as puzzling notes or mysterious architectural visions ([4], [5]). The term frequently imbues a subject with dual qualities of allure and inscrutability, as seen in characters whose eyes or expressions remain both fascinating and unfathomable ([6], [7]). In this way, "enigmatic" serves as a literary tool for suggesting complexity and the promise of unseen layers beneath the surface ([8], [9], [10]).
  1. He looked at her, an enigmatic smile on his lips.
    — from The Black Pearl by Woodrow, Wilson, Mrs.
  2. He came straight towards her, smiling his slow, enigmatic smile.
    — from The Lost Girl by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
  3. I watched her as she sat at the head of the table, graceful, composed, enigmatic.
    — from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
  4. Since early youth I had had enigmatic glimpses of three buildings, each in a different setting.
    — from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
  5. I was at first unable to solve these questions; but perpetual attention, and time, explained to me many appearances which were at first enigmatic.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  6. Liza Merkalova was a thin brunette, with an Oriental, languid type of face, and—as everyone used to say—exquisite enigmatic eyes.
    — from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy
  7. This glow shone out in her exquisite, truly enigmatic eyes.
    — from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy
  8. This enigmatic craft—American in the morning, and English in the evening—her sails full of wind in a calm—was never again beheld.
    — from The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville
  9. You will, for thc first time, begin to see that he was a man; not an enigmatic chimera, unintelligible to you, incredible to you.
    — from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle
  10. You’re an enigmatic and romantic figure now, more than ever you were—extremely advantageous position.
    — from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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