Crossword clues for puzzling
puzzling
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
puzzle \puz"zle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. puzzled (p[u^]z"z'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. puzzling (p[u^]z"zl[i^]ng).]
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To perplex; to confuse; to embarrass; to put to a stand; to nonplus.
A very shrewd disputant in those points is dexterous in puzzling others.
--Dr. H. More.He is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own blunders.
--Addison. -
To make intricate; to entangle.
They disentangle from the puzzled skein.
--Cowper.The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate, Puzzled in mazes, and perplexed with error.
--Addison. -
To solve by ingenuity, as a puzzle; -- followed by out; as, to puzzle out a mystery.
Syn: To embarrass; perplex; confuse; bewilder; confound. See Embarrass.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"bewildering," 1660s, present participle adjective from puzzle (v.). Related: Puzzlingly.
Wiktionary
Difficult to understand or explain; enigmatic or confusing; perplexing. n. Time spent pondering something confusing. v
(present participle of puzzle English)
WordNet
adj. not clear to the understanding; "I didn't grasp the meaning of that enigmatic comment until much later"; "prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries" [syn: enigmatic, enigmatical]
lacking clarity of meaning; causing confusion or perplexity; "sent confusing signals to Iraq"; "perplexing to someone who knew nothing about it"; "a puzzling statement" [syn: confusing, perplexing]
Usage examples of "puzzling".
There was puzzling evidence from all over the Altiplano that agricultural experiments of an advanced and scientific nature had been carried out, with great ingenuity and dedication, to try to compensate for the deterioration of the climate.
Now she found it lacking, an oddly empty, circumscribed happiness bound up in self-indulgence and personal gratification, bereft of interest in or concern for others, ultimately puzzling and somehow sad.
Rather than being filled with worries about her surroundings, her mind buzzed with thoughts of the often puzzling, sometimes frustrating, yet always fascinating Blu Cahill.
In the morning Desarmoises came and told me that all the company, not seeing me at supper, had been puzzling itself to find out what had become of me.
It does not cozen me, though I confess I find other aspects of your behaviour rather more puzzling!
Without noticing my abstraction, the Professor began reading the puzzling cryptograph all sorts of ways, according to some theory of his own.
The representative nature of thoughts, sometimes called their intentionality or directedness, is itself highly puzzling.
As to public esteem, which I had ever been anxious to secure, my ambition was slumbering, and satisfied with being my own master I enjoyed my independence without puzzling my head about the future.
Esmeralda felt light-headed and unreal, and somehow everything about Charles Thurston and Kalimba was no longer puzzling or threatening, but funny.
We are riddling again, puzzling meaning from a man he thinks we ought to know equally.
The yellow meat inside had the slight hint of persimmons, which he savoured while puzzling his mankil problems.
Perhaps the Dean Street kids had never really been able to keep their attention on skully but only on the attendant crafts, on puzzling out the tradition.
Gudrun, in the strange, twanging voice of lonely chagrin that was very puzzling to him.
Puzzling over this farmhold, surely the strangest he had seen, Taran drew closer, dismounted, and as he did so a tall figure ambled from the shed and made his way toward the companions.
Pat cheerily putting Post-Its on her ceiling and Paul puzzling over analemma rise.