puzzle
/'pʌzl/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- A game or toy that tests your ingenuity or knowledge: A "puzzle" is a problem or game designed to challenge a person's thinking, often requiring logic, pattern recognition, or creativity to solve.
- A confusing or baffling problem or situation: A "puzzle" can also refer to any complex or perplexing issue that is difficult to understand or resolve.
Verb:
- To cause someone to feel confused or uncertain: To "puzzle" someone is to make them think hard because they cannot easily understand something.
- To think deeply about something confusing: To "puzzle" over something is to try to understand or solve a difficult problem by thinking about it carefully.
Examples of Usage
- Noun:
- She spent the afternoon solving a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle.
- The reason for his sudden resignation remains a puzzle to everyone.
- Verb:
- His strange behavior puzzled his friends.
- Scientists are puzzling over the unexpected results of the experiment.
Advanced Usage
- "To be in a puzzle": To be in a state of confusion or uncertainty.
- I'm in a puzzle about what to do next.
- "A puzzling situation": A situation that is confusing and difficult to explain (Note: "puzzling" is the adjective form).
- The disappearance of the documents created a puzzling situation for the investigators.
Variants and Related Words
- Puzzler (n): A particularly difficult puzzle or problem.
- The final question in the quiz was a real puzzler.
- Puzzling (adj): Causing confusion; difficult to understand.
- We received a puzzling message with no clear instructions.
- Puzzlement (n): A state of confusion or bewilderment.
- His announcement was met with puzzlement by the audience.
Synonyms
- Noun: Enigma, riddle, conundrum, mystery, brain-teaser.
- Verb: Perplex, confuse, baffle, mystify, bewilder.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Puzzle out: To solve a confusing problem by thinking carefully.
- It took me an hour to puzzle out the answer to the riddle.
- Puzzle over: To think deeply and for a long time about something confusing.
- He puzzled over the ancient manuscript for weeks.
Related Idioms
- A piece of the puzzle: One part of a complex problem or situation that helps you understand the whole.
- The new evidence provided a crucial piece of the puzzle.
- Puzzle one's brains: To think very hard about something.
- I've been puzzling my brains all day, but I still can't remember his name.
Noun
- a game that tests your ingenuity
- a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution
- he loved to solve chessmate puzzles
- that's a real puzzler
Verb
- be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide
- We puzzled over her sudden departure
- be a mystery or bewildering to
- This beats me!
- Got me--I don't know the answer!
- a vexing problem
- This question really stuck me