Antonyms for sphinx

Grammar : Noun

Spell : sfingks

Phonetic Transcription : sfɪŋks

Definition of sphinx

Origin : early 15c., "monster of Greek mythology," from Latin Sphinx, from Greek Sphinx, literally" the strangler," a back-formation from sphingein "to squeeze, bind" (see sphincter).
Monster, having a lion's (winged) body and a woman's head, that waylaid travelers around Thebes and devoured those who could not answer its questions; Oedipus solved the riddle and the Sphinx killed herself. The proper plural would be sphinges. Transferred sense of "person or thing of mysterious nature" is from c.1600. In the Egyptian sense (usually male and wingless) it is attested from 1570s; specific reference to the colossal stone one near the pyramids as Giza is attested from 1610s.

As in mystery : noun puzzle, secret
As in perplexity : noun mystery
As in puzzler : noun mystery
As in enigma : noun mystery

Example sentences :

The sphinx did not slay herself until her riddle had been guessed.
Extract from : « The Hall of Fantasy (From "Mosses From An Old Manse") » by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Sphinx is a woman, as I will insist to my dying day, if it were my last word!
Extract from : « It Happened in Egypt » by C. N. Williamson

Probably King Harmachis had the Sphinx altered to look like him.
Extract from : « It Happened in Egypt » by C. N. Williamson

Which do you find more impressive, the Sphinx or the Pyramids?
Extract from : « It Happened in Egypt » by C. N. Williamson

He became an inexplicable creature; a breeched and booted Sphinx.
Extract from : « Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit » by Charles Dickens

For hours together he lay stretched upon my knee, like the shadow of a sphinx.
Extract from : « Concerning Cats » by Helen M. Winslow

The dawn filtered over the head of the Sphinx, and there were stirrings in the sky.
Extract from : « Melomaniacs » by James Huneker

But he might as well have looked for expression in that of a sphinx.
Extract from : « The Golden Woman » by Ridgwell Cullum

Good fellow all right, and, for a 'sphinx' as you call him, likable.
Extract from : « Astounding Stories of Super-Science April 1930 » by Various

But what—as the country parson's sermon drones on—thinks the Sphinx?
Extract from : « Dreamers of the Ghetto » by I. Zangwill

Synonyms for sphinx

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019