puzzling

adjective

puz·​zling ˈpə-zə-liŋ How to pronounce puzzling (audio)
ˈpəz-liŋ
: difficult to understand or solve
puzzling symptoms
puzzlingly adverb

Examples of puzzling in a Sentence

The directions are somewhat puzzling.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Even more puzzling was the late move to bring in striker Odsonne Edouard from Crystal Palace to take up the second and last available Premier League loan, paying a large proportion of his considerable wages to boot. Rob Tanner, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2025 What may be more puzzling is how to stop the white-ball team from crashing and burning. Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 10 Apr. 2025 This is somewhat puzzling because a core tenet of cosmology is that at sufficiently large intergalactic scales, the universe’s properties and structure should be essentially the same in all directions. Paul M. Sutter, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2025 As biologists studied the problem in the years after the initial detection, however, some noticed a puzzling pattern. Bywarren Cornwall, science.org, 9 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for puzzling

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1659, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of puzzling was circa 1659

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Puzzling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puzzling. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on puzzling

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!