puzzle

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: puz=zle

CIDE DICTIONARY

puzzle, n. [For opposal, in the sense of problem. See Oppose, Pose, v.].

•  Something which perplexes or embarrasses; especially, a toy or a problem contrived for testing ingenuity; also, something exhibiting marvelous skill in making.  [1913 Webster]
•  The state of being puzzled; perplexity; as, to be in a puzzle.  [1913 Webster]

puzzle, v. t. 

•  To perplex; to confuse; to embarrass; to put to a stand; to nonplus.  [1913 Webster]

  "A very shrewd disputant in those points is dexterous in puzzling others."  [1913 Webster]

  "He is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own blunders."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make intricate; to entangle.  [1913 Webster]

  "They disentangle from the puzzled skein."  [1913 Webster]

  "The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate,
  Puzzled in mazes, and perplexed with error."  [1913 Webster]
•  To solve by ingenuity, as a puzzle; -- followed by out; as, to puzzle out a mystery.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To embarrass; perplex; confuse; bewilder; confound. See Embarrass.

puzzle, v. i. 

•  To be bewildered, or perplexed.  [1913 Webster]

  "A puzzling fool, that heeds nothing."  [1913 Webster]
•  To work, as at a puzzle; as, to puzzle over a problem.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

puzzle, n. & v.
--n.
1 a difficult or confusing problem; an enigma.
2 a problem or toy designed to test knowledge or ingenuity.
--v.
1 tr. confound or disconcert mentally.
2 intr. (usu. foll. by over etc.) be perplexed (about).
3 tr. (usu. as puzzling adj.) require much thought to comprehend (a puzzling situation).
4 tr. (foll. by out) solve or understand by hard thought.

Derivative

puzzlement n. puzzlingly adv.

Etymology

16th c.: orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

puzzle

Chinese puzzle, Gordian knot, addle, ail, amaze, apply the mind, baffle, bafflement, baffling problem, bamboozle, be the matter, beat, befog, befuddle, beset, bewilder, bewilderment, boggle, bother, brain twister, brain-teaser, buffalo, cap, complicate matters, concern, confound, confoundment, confuse, confusion, consider, contemplate, conundrum, crossword puzzle, crux, dark horse, daze, decipher, dilemma, discommode, discomposure, disconcert, disconcertedness, disconcertion, disconcertment, distract, distress, disturb, disturbance, dumbfound, embarrassment, enigma, enigmatic question, figure out, fix, flabbergast, floor, floorer, flummox, foil, frontier, frontiers of knowledge, frustrate, fuddle, get, hammer at, hammer away at, harass, inconvenience, irk, jam, jigsaw puzzle, keep in suspense, knot, knotty point, lick, matter of ignorance, maze, mind-boggler, muddle, mull over, muse on, muse over, mystery, mystification, mystify, n, node, nodus, nonplus, nut to crack, oxymoron, paradox, perplex, perplexed question, perplexity, perturb, perturbation, pickle, plague, plight, ponder over, pons asinorum, pose, poser, pother, predicament, problem, put out, put to it, puzzle out, puzzle over, puzzlement, puzzler, quandary, question, question mark, reflect over, riddle, scrape, sealed book, sixty-four dollar question, solve, sort out, stew, stew over, stick, sticker, study, stumble, stump, stumper, stymie, teaser, terra incognita, the incalculable, the strange, the unfamiliar, the unknowable, the unknown, think hard, think through, throw, torment, tough proposition, trouble, unassuredness, unexplored ground, unexplored territory, unknown quantity, unlock, unravel, upset, vex, vexed question, why, work out, worry, x, z

ROGET THESAURUS

puzzle

Difficulty

N difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, Herculean task, Augean task, task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon, difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son Latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned, with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita Minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds, ay there's the rub, hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire.

Uncertainty

VB be uncertain, wonder whether, lose the clue, lose the clew, scent, miss one's way, not know what to make of, not know which way to turn, not know whether one stands on one s head or one's, float in a sea of doubt, hesitate, flounder, lose oneself, lose one's head, muddle one's brains, render uncertain, put out, pose, puzzle, perplex, embarrass, confuse, confound, bewilder, bother, molder, addle the wits, throw off the scent, ambiguas in vulgus spargere voces, keep in suspense, doubt, hang in the balance, tremble in the balance, depend.

Unintelligibility

N unintelligibility, incomprehensibility, imperspicuity, inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity, ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty, perplexity, spinosity, obscurum per obscurius, mystification, latency, transcendentalism, paradox, oxymoron, riddle, enigma, puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book, steganography, freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, jargon, unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable, incognizable, inexplicable, inscrutable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, insolvable, insoluble, impenetrable, illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical, enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret), indecipherable, obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery, opaque, dense, undiscernible, misty, hidden, latent, indefinite, garbled, perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous, mysterious, mystic, mystical, acroamatic, acroamatical, metempirical, transcendental, occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed, inconceivable, inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable, unpredictable, unforeseeable, it's Greek to me.

Concealment

VB conceal, hide, secrete, put out of sight, lock up, seal up, bottle up, encrypt, encode, cipher, cover, screen, cloak, veil, shroud, cover up one's tracks, screen from sight, screen from observation, drawing the veil, draw the curtain, close the curtain, curtain, shade, eclipse, throw a view over, be cloud, be mask, mask, disguise, ensconce, muffle, smother, befog, whisper, keep from, keep back, keep to oneself, keep snug, keep close, keep secret, keep dark, bury, sink, suppress, keep from, keep from out of view, keep from out of sight, keep in the shade, throw into the shade, throw into background, stifle, hush up, smother, withhold, reserve, fence with a question, ignore, keep a secret, keep one's own counsel, hold one's tongue, make no sign, not let it go further, not breathe a word, not breathe a syllable about, not let the right hand know what the left is doing, hide one's light under a bushel, bury one's talent in a napkin, keep in the dark, leave in the dark, keep in the ignorance, blind, blind the eyes, blindfold, hoodwink, mystify, puzzle, bamboozle, be concealed, suffer an eclipse, retire from sight, couch, hide oneself, lie hid, lie in perdu, lie in close, lie in ambush (ambush), seclude oneself, lurk, sneak, skulk, slink, prowl, steal into, steal out of, steal by, steal along, play at bopeep, play at hide and seek, hide in holes and corners, still hunt.

Secret

N secret, dead secret, profound secret, arcanum, mystery, latency, Asian mystery, sealed book, secrets of the prison house, le desous des cartes, enigma, riddle, puzzle, nut to crack, conundrum, charade, rebus, logogriph, monogram, anagram, Sphinx, crux criticorum, maze, labyrinth, Hyrcynian wood, intricacy, meander, problem, paradox, unintelligibility, terra incognita, secret, involved, labyrinthine, labyrinthian, mazy, confidential, top secret.