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:
Of course, changing the early eligibility age would also affect how people plan for retirement, and where Social Security fits into the overall retirement-income puzzle.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 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
There are more than 200 billion galaxies in the universe, and their motions have long presented astronomers with a major puzzle.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
Maybe it’s a small thing, sewing a hem, helping someone with a crossword puzzle.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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
Whether or not you like puzzles, you can count on that.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Sunday, it starts with a lemon, ends with puzzles and has a whole lot of family, phone calls and fusion food in between.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 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
It didn’t matter that he was an orphan who never quite fit into the puzzles of families he was shoved into.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
If you’ve never been in a Dulles people mover, you might be puzzled by the white-hot hatred they induce.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
The assistant director looked puzzled, thinking the director was asking for “cows.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 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
Ryan Kerner, an attorney from St. Louis, Mo., was puzzled and delighted when he saw groups of Bald-Es near Hyde Park on the day of the concert.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Mudd was puzzled by the sudden change in plan, as Booth had not yet told Mudd he was Lincoln’s assassin.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
Computer models are helping scientists explain a puzzling pattern of deformation beneath the East African Rift System.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 2026
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
One of the most enduring mysteries that has been puzzling scientists forever is how the Sun's outer atmosphere - the corona - is millions of degrees hotter than its surface.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
"For the future, it's a little puzzling, to say the least," she told AFP in an interview.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
This, to a Renaissance intellectual, is a deeply puzzling concept.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
