puzzling

1. 1
   adjective

   Difficult to understand or explain; confusing or hard to make sense of.

   Like a riddle that resists every attempt to solve it.

   Detectives found the missing evidence deeply puzzling.

   The instrument's readings were puzzling enough to halt the experiment.

   Similarperplexing, baffling, bewildering, mystifying, confusing

   Oppositeclear, obvious, straightforward, understandable

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of puzzle.

   He sat at his desk, puzzling over the cryptic message for hours.

   Scientists are still puzzling over the unexpected data from the probe.

   Note

   Behind this form are two uses of the verb. The transitive one leaves someone baffled (the silence kept puzzling her). The intransitive one means long, bewildered thought and usually takes over (puzzling over a map). The first sits close to the adjective "confusing", and the test is an object: "the result is puzzling" describes, while "the result is puzzling everyone" is the verb at work. Only the adjective takes very or more.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Time spent pondering or thinking over something confusing.

   The cryptic clue required hours of puzzling before anyone solved it.

   A bit of puzzling over the diagram revealed the hidden flaw.

   Similarpondering, deliberation, thought, head-scratching, rumination

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