Puzzle
['pʌz(ə)l] or ['pʌzl]
Definition
(noun.) a game that tests your ingenuity.
(noun.) a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution; 'he loved to solve chessmate puzzles'; 'that's a real puzzler'.
(verb.) be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide; 'We puzzled over her sudden departure'.
Edited by Erna--From WordNet
Definition
(v.) Something which perplexes or embarrasses; especially, a toy or a problem contrived for testing ingenuity; also, something exhibiting marvelous skill in making.
(v.) The state of being puzzled; perplexity; as, to be in a puzzle.
(v. t.) To perplex; to confuse; to embarrass; to put to a stand; to nonplus.
(v. t.) To make intricate; to entangle.
(v. t.) To solve by ingenuity, as a puzzle; -- followed by out; as, to puzzle out a mystery.
(v. i.) To be bewildered, or perplexed.
(v. i.) To work, as at a puzzle; as, to puzzle over a problem.
Typed by Ferris
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Perplex, embarrass, bewilder, confound, stagger, pose, nonplus, confuse, mystify.
n. [1]. Riddle, enigma, mystery, poser, knotty point.[2]. Perplexity, embarrassment, quandary, nonplus.
Edited by Leopold
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Embarrassment, be_wilderment, enigma, confusion, conundrum, intricacy,labyrinth
ANT:Disentanglement, solution, explanation, extrication, clue
SYN:Pose, perplex, embarrass, bewilder, confound, mystify, confuse
ANT:Enlighten, instruct, illumine
Editor: Rudolf
Definition
n. a difficulty to be solved: perplexity: something to try the ingenuity as a toy or riddle.—v.t. to set a difficult question to: to pose: to perplex.—v.i. to be bewildered: to think long and carefully (with out over).—ns. Puzz′ledom (coll.) bewilderment; Puzz′le-head one who is puzzle-headed.—adj. Puzz′le-head′ed having the head full of confused notions.—ns. Puzz′le-head′edness; Puzz′lement the state of being puzzled; Puzz′le-monk′ey (same as Monkey-puzzle q.v.); Puzz′le-peg a piece of wood so secured under a dog's jaw as to keep his nose from the ground; Puzz′ler; Puzz′le-ring a ring made of several small rings intricately linked together capable of being taken apart and put together again.—adj. Puzz′ling posing: perplexing.—adv. Puzz′lingly.
Typed by Josephine
Examples
- Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at all of what it meant. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- In short, the case had been a puzzle from the first, and one more perplexity was added to it now. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I want to puzzle you again. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Now you look puzzled; and I will puzzle you further. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- I tried to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside until night should bring an explanation. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Why should it puzzle you? Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- You puzzle me, Jane: your look and tone of sorrowful audacity perplex and pain me. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- What puzzles you, puzzles me too. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I can understand content in such a case--though how the outward situation can attract him puzzles me. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- But for her self-control, the mystery that puzzles you, Mr. Betteredge, would have been at an end to-night. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Be sure to let me interpret for her whenever she puzzles you; always believe my account of the matter, Robert. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Is there so little business in the world that you must be sending puzzles over the country? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It puzzles me now to remember with what absurd sincerity I doated on this little toy, half fancying it alive and capable of sensation. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- But I admit Maurice with his melancholia puzzles me. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I was puzzled, because I could not make the glimpses of furniture I saw accord with my knowledge of any of these apartments. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- I handed it back to Mr. Murthwaite, and owned that this curious specimen of Hindoo correspondence rather puzzled me. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I felt satisfied of another thing, from what he said, which it puzzled me to understand. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Struck by the significance of his tone, Maurice looked keenly at him, and then turned to Crispin with a puzzled air. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Now you look puzzled; and I will puzzle you further. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- She was looking mighty serious, but a little puzzled. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Mrs. Yolland has puzzled me. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- These few I amused myself by puzzling to make out; and, in particular, I was attracted by the outline of a picture on the wall. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- The thundering carriage-and-pair encountered were now likewise recalled, as well as that puzzling signal, the waved handkerchief. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- That's the puzzling part. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The history of life that men have puzzled out and are still puzzling out from them is called the Record of the Rocks. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- To us some of his difficulties are puzzling only from their simplicity: we do not perceive that the answer to them 'is tumbling out at our feet. Plato. The Republic.
- Yes; though I own you were puzzling at times. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
Checked by Elisha