PUZZLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does puzzle mean? 

• PUZZLE (noun)
  The noun PUZZLE has 2 senses:

1. a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution

2. a game that tests your ingenuity

  Familiarity information: PUZZLE used as a noun is rare.

• PUZZLE (verb)
  The verb PUZZLE has 2 senses:

1. be a mystery or bewildering to

2. be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide

  Familiarity information: PUZZLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUZZLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

mystifier; puzzle; puzzler; teaser

Context example:

that's a real puzzler

Hypernyms ("puzzle" is a kind of...):

problem (a question raised for consideration or solution)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "puzzle"):

sudoku (a number puzzle in which the numbers 1 through 9 must be placed into a grid of cells so that each row or column contains only one of each number)

acrostic; word square (a puzzle where you fill a square grid with words reading the same down as across)

Derivation:

puzzle (be a mystery or bewildering to)

puzzle (be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A game that tests your ingenuity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("puzzle" is a kind of...):

game (the game equipment needed in order to play a particular game)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "puzzle"):

Chinese puzzle (intricate or ingenious puzzle consisting of boxes within boxes)

jigsaw puzzle (a puzzle that requires you to reassemble a picture that has been mounted on a stiff base and cut into interlocking pieces)

tangram (a Chinese puzzle consisting of a square divided into seven pieces that must be arranged to match particular designs)

crossword; crossword puzzle (a puzzle in which words corresponding to numbered clues are to be found and written in to squares in the puzzle)

• PUZZLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they puzzle    ... he / she / it puzzles   
Past simple: puzzled   
Past participle: puzzled   
-ing form: puzzling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be a mystery or bewildering to

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

amaze; baffle; beat; bewilder; dumbfound; flummox; get; gravel; mystify; nonplus; perplex; pose; puzzle; stick; stupefy; vex

Context example:

This question really stuck me

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

bedevil; befuddle; confound; confuse; discombobulate; fox; fuddle; throw (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

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

mix up; stump (cause to be perplexed or confounded)

riddle (set a difficult problem or riddle)

elude; escape (be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will puzzle him
The good news will puzzle her
The performance is likely to puzzle Sue

Also:

puzzle out (find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of)

puzzle over (try to solve)

Derivation:

puzzle (a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution)

puzzlement (confusion resulting from failure to understand)

puzzler (a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

We puzzled over her sudden departure

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

chew over; contemplate; excogitate; meditate; mull; mull over; muse; ponder; reflect; ruminate; speculate; think over (reflect deeply on a subject)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue puzzle over the results of the experiment

Derivation:

puzzle (a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution)

puzzlement (confusion resulting from failure to understand)

 Context examples 

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

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I was puzzled how to answer, but he helped me with a word.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I begin to get new lights on certain things which have puzzled me.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The final piece of the puzzle was to analyse ice cores from Greenland, to study changes in temperature and climate over the same time period.

(A new study is the first to measure the time lags between changing ocean currents and major climate shifts., University of Cambridge)

He was surprised, and looked at them in a puzzled way.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I confess, however, I added, that this tiny human figure puzzles me.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In this brief hour I had learnt more of him than in the whole previous month: yet still he puzzled me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

What has puzzled scientists is why water vapor appears to be missing from the toasty worlds' atmospheres, when it is abundant in similar but slightly cooler planets.

(Water Is Destroyed, Then Reborn in Ultrahot Jupiters, NASA/JPL)

Why everybody liked him was what puzzled Jo, at first.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was Wolf Larsen’s turn to be puzzled.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)