Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Something, such as a game, toy, or problem, that requires ingenuity and often persistence in solving or assembling.
- noun Something that baffles or confuses; an enigma.
- noun The condition of being perplexed; bewilderment.
- intransitive verb To baffle or confuse mentally by presenting or being a difficult problem or matter. synonym: perplex.
- intransitive verb To clarify or solve (something confusing) by reasoning or study.
- intransitive verb To be perplexed.
- intransitive verb To ponder over a problem in an effort to solve or understand it.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A difficult question or problem; specifically, a riddle, or a toy or contrivance which is designed to try one's ingenuity.
- noun Embarrassment; perplexity: as, to be in a puzzle, or in a state of puzzle.
- To perplex or pose with or as with difficult points, problems, or questions; put to a stand; gravel.
- To entangle; make intricate.
- To resolve or discover by long cogitation or careful investigation; make out by mental labor; cogitate: with out.
- Synonyms Perplex, etc. (see
embarrass ), pose, nonplus, bewilder, stagger. - To be bewildered; be perplexed or posed.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Something which perplexes or embarrasses; especially, a toy or a problem contrived for testing ingenuity; also, something exhibiting marvelous skill in making.
- noun The state of being puzzled; perplexity.
- intransitive verb To be bewildered, or perplexed.
- intransitive verb To work, as at a puzzle.
- transitive verb To perplex; to confuse; to embarrass; to put to a stand; to nonplus.
- transitive verb To make intricate; to entangle.
- transitive verb To solve by ingenuity, as a puzzle; -- followed by
out .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Anything that is difficult to
understand or make sense of. - noun A
game for one person that is more or less difficult towork out or complete. - noun A
crossword puzzle . - noun A
jigsaw puzzle . - noun A
riddle . - verb transitive To
perplex (someone).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be a mystery or bewildering to
- noun a game that tests your ingenuity
- noun a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution
- verb be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But it ` s just -- it ` s a normal investigative process, you know, and it ` s odd that the term puzzle was used, because essentially that ` s what an investigation is.
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Many assignments in the professional world are a word puzzle in need of a visual solution and it's up to the photographer to make lemonade from lemons.
Wired Top Stories Wired.com Photo Department 2011
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A big piece of the puzzle is the Web Application Accelerator, which Akamai has enhanced specifically for SaaS customers.
OpSource, Akamai Unite to Score a Slice of $56B Cloud Market Pie 2009
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I fancy foxes and liked the picture on its own; the puzzle is a bonus.
Archive 2008-01-01 The Nag 2008
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In one experiment, Mogilner stood outside a coffee shop and asked people as they were about to enter the store to complete a word puzzle.
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The stumbling-out-the-gate budget fumble by Chris Gregoire's staff highlights a bigger problem for the state budget that will pose a significant stumbling block for lawmakers: a large piece of the puzzle is the under funded state pension system which requires sizeable "catch-up" contributions from the state in coming years.
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And now the final piece of the puzzle is apparently ready to be slipped into place – according to reports, Tom Cruise is ready to release a picture of Suri Cruise to the public.
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La Russa says an important piece to the puzzle is the fact the A's had somebody good enough to get the outs in the seventh and eighth innings.
USATODAY.com - A's Eckersley defined today's role of closer 2005
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(Sorry, Miami Herald - you have too many ads and the crossword puzzle is the same as the Times except a week later.)
January 2004 2004
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The second piece in the puzzle is the weak force, which controls some radioactive decays and energy production in the sun.
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