PUZZLE OUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does puzzle out mean? 

• PUZZLE OUT (verb)
  The verb PUZZLE OUT has 1 sense:

1. find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of

  Familiarity information: PUZZLE OUT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUZZLE OUT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

figure out; lick; puzzle out; solve; work; work out

Context example:

He could not work the math problem

Hypernyms (to "puzzle out" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

"Puzzle out" entails doing...:

reason (think logically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "puzzle out"):

answer; resolve (understand the meaning of)

riddle (explain a riddle)

strike (arrive at after reckoning, deliberating, and weighing)

guess; infer (guess correctly; solve by guessing)

answer (give the correct answer or solution to)

break (find the solution or key to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

He laughed, and added, Come, shall I make you understand each other, or leave you to puzzle out an explanation as you can?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

"I never can puzzle out why you, of all men, are a socialist," Martin pondered.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But Martin could not puzzle out what strange whim animated them to this general acceptance of the things they had persistently rejected for two years.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He read them over and over, and liked them so much that he could not puzzle out the cause of their rejection, until, one day, he read in a newspaper that manuscripts should always be typewritten.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)