puzzle
Americannoun
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puzzles
plural
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a toy, problem, or other contrivance designed to amuse by presenting difficulties to be solved by ingenuity or patient effort.
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something puzzling; a puzzling question, matter, or person.
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a puzzled or perplexed condition; bewilderment.
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Did you do the puzzle in the newspaper today?
verb (used with object)
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puzzles,
present (3rd person singular)
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puzzled,
past participle, past
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puzzling
present participle
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to put (someone) at a loss; mystify; confuse; baffle.
Her attitude puzzles me.
- Synonyms:
- confound
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to frustrate or confound, as the understanding; perplex.
The problem puzzled him for weeks.
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to exercise (oneself, one's brain, etc.) over some problem or matter.
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Archaic. to make intricate or complicated.
verb (used without object)
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puzzles,
present (3rd person singular)
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puzzled,
past participle, past
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puzzling
present participle
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to be perplexed or confused.
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to ponder or study over some perplexing problem or matter.
verb phrase
verb
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to perplex or be perplexed
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to attempt the solution (of); ponder (about)
he puzzled over her absence
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to solve by mental effort
he puzzled out the meaning of the inscription
noun
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a person or thing that puzzles
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a problem that cannot be easily or readily solved
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the state or condition of being puzzled
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a toy, game, or question presenting a problem that requires skill or ingenuity for its solution See jigsaw puzzle Chinese puzzle
Synonym Usage
Puzzle, riddle, enigma refer to something baffling or confusing that is to be solved. A puzzle is a question or problem, intricate enough to be perplexing to the mind; it is sometimes a contrivance made purposely perplexing to test one's ingenuity: a crossword puzzle; The reason for their behavior remains a puzzle. A riddle is an intentionally obscure statement or question, the meaning of or answer to which is to be arrived at only by guessing: the famous riddle of the Sphinx. Enigma, originally meaning riddle, now refers to some baffling problem with connotations of mysteriousness: He will always be an enigma to me.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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puzzlesimple
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puzzlessimple
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have puzzledperfect
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has puzzledperfect
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am puzzlingprogressive
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are puzzlingprogressive
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is puzzlingprogressive
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have been puzzlingperfect progressive
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has been puzzlingperfect progressive
Past
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puzzledsimple
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had puzzledperfect
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was puzzlingprogressive
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were puzzlingprogressive
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had been puzzlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of puzzle
First recorded in 1585–95; origin uncertain
Explanation
To puzzle over something is to try to understand or solve it. Picture someone struggling with a jigsaw puzzle, trying to figure out how all those tiny pieces fit together to form an image. That person is puzzling over a puzzle! When something puzzles you, it confuses and mystifies you. New technology might continually puzzle your grandfather, while your grandmother is quick to figure it out. When you puzzle over a difficult book or the instructions to your new TV, it's like you're trying to piece together a tricky puzzle — a challenging game or problem. The classic puzzle is a jigsaw puzzle, a picture that's split into small, oddly-shaped pieces you need to reassemble into a whole. There are also logic puzzles, crossword puzzles, and mechanical puzzles like a Rubik's Cube. If you can't figure a person out, you can also call them a puzzle.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The fate of a franchise depends on cramming them into a vast, complex puzzle of resource allocation that’s harder to navigate than a swimming pool in a straitjacket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Confidence aside, part of the puzzle still to be solved with Delap is how best to utilise his impressive strength without his penchant for the physical element of Premier League football becoming counter productive.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Three letters to describe a cord that our puzzle writer always inserts the wrong way?
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
Green arrows representing tourist-laden jets pile up on the screens of the Athens air traffic controllers, a puzzle to solve at the height of tourist season.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
Dad looks up from his crossword puzzle, amused by my dramatic entrance.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
He started with a $100 machine, making trinkets like Christmas ornaments and puzzles, but has since upgraded to more expensive printers for conquering a range of home repairs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
As the puzzles became more difficult, the results suggested that language was not necessary for this form of reasoning.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
Some puzzles will have pieces containing real estate, others will have cruises and vacations.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Writing in The Times, Beard bemoaned that the poem's "erotic puzzles, the teasing ironies, the intriguing questions about truth and falsehood" had been replaced with "a rather ponderous Hollywood message about civilisational decline".
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
There were picture puzzles of waterfalls, 1,000 pieces.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
Some longtime New Yorkers were puzzled over their inclusion on the list while others complained that the publication was an invasion of privacy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The assistant director looked puzzled, thinking the director was asking for “cows.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
If you’re puzzled, that’s OK, you should be.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
Americans growing up in the 21st century might be puzzled by his words, because the idea of widespread Sunday business closings has, with notable exceptions, been disappearing for decades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Margaret, who was not privy to all the complexities of the situation, seemed puzzled by this sudden outcry for baking expertise.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Kelly pulls out his phone to show me a video of a woman whose account is dedicated to sharing puzzling life advice while she appears under an extreme beauty filter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Even more puzzling, other people in the same room may hear nothing at all.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
Pessimism about the economy persists across classes, puzzling economists despite healthy hiring and consumer-spending metrics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
A competing interpretation has emerged of the preliminary report's most puzzling detail: the brief movement of both fuel-control switches to "cutoff" shortly after take-off.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
I was puzzling it out, whether to press him further or to play it casually, when Call blurted out, “You don’t seem like neither spy.”
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
