puzzle

Meanings

Noun

• Anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of.
• A game for one or more people that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.
• A crossword puzzle.
• A jigsaw puzzle.
• A riddle.
• Something made with marvellous skill; something of ingenious construction.
• The state of being puzzled; perplexity.

Verb

• To perplex, confuse, or mystify; to cause (someone) to be faced with a mystery, without answers or an explanation.
• To think long and carefully, in bewilderment.
• To make intricate; to entangle.

Related

Similar words

• anybody's guess, anyone's guess, conundrum, enigma, mystery
• brain-teaser, poser
• crossword, crossword puzzle
• : jigsaw, jigsaw puzzle
• guessing game, riddle

Origin

• Origin uncertain; originally pusle. Possibly from pose + -le. The verb (1590s) “to perplex” seems to predate the noun “state of being perplexed” (circa 1600), “perplexing question” (1650s), “toy” (1814).