- present participle of puzzle.
puzzling
Americanadjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of puzzling
Explanation
Something that's puzzling is confusing, or hard to understand. It might seem puzzling to you that your best friend claims to hate doughnuts. People sometimes act in puzzling ways, making decisions that you can't comprehend. You might also come across particularly puzzling questions on a test or quiz — these are the hard ones, taking a long time to figure out and requiring a lot of thought. Puzzling comes from the verb puzzle, whose origin is a bit of a puzzle itself. Some experts guess that it comes from pose, formed the way nuzzle is from nose.
Vocabulary lists containing puzzling
Strange
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Strange
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Strange
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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.
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
But as telescopes and observations have become more precise, researchers have uncovered several puzzling features that the standard model struggles to explain.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 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
He keeps picking up things, puzzling over them, and then setting them down again.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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.
