Synonyms for puzzle
ˈpʌz əlpuz·zle

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. puzzlenoun

   Synonyms:
   riddle, guessing game, poser, crossword puzzle, brain-teaser, jigsaw, enigma, conundrum, crossword, anyones guess, jigsaw puzzle, anybodys guess, mystery

2. puzzlenoun

   Anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of.

   Where he went after he left the house is a puzzle.

   Synonyms:
   brain-teaser, guessing game, conundrum, anyones guess, enigma, mystery, jigsaw puzzle, anybodys guess, crossword, riddle, poser, jigsaw, crossword puzzle

3. puzzlenoun

   A game for one person that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.

   Synonyms:
   anyones guess, crossword, jigsaw, crossword puzzle, mystery, guessing game, brain-teaser, riddle, jigsaw puzzle, anybodys guess, enigma, poser, conundrum

4. puzzlenoun

   A crossword puzzle.

   Synonyms:
   guessing game, poser, crossword puzzle, enigma, anyones guess, anybodys guess, brain-teaser, conundrum, mystery, riddle, jigsaw, jigsaw puzzle, crossword

5. puzzlenoun

   A jigsaw puzzle.

   Synonyms:
   enigma, jigsaw puzzle, jigsaw, riddle, mystery, anyones guess, crossword puzzle, poser, conundrum, brain-teaser, anybodys guess, guessing game, crossword

6. puzzlenoun

   A riddle.

   Synonyms:
   anyones guess, conundrum, anybodys guess, poser, riddle, guessing game, jigsaw, enigma, mystery, brain-teaser, jigsaw puzzle, crossword puzzle, crossword

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. puzzlenoun

   Conundrum, a word of unknown origin, signifies some question or statement in which some hidden and fanciful resemblance is involved, the answer often depending upon a pun; an enigma is a dark saying; a paradox is a true statement that at first appears absurd or contradictory; a problem is something thrown out for solution; puzzle (from oppose) referred originally to the intricate arguments by which disputants opposed each other in the old philosophic schools. The riddle is an ambiguous or paradoxical statement with a hidden meaning to be guessed by the mental acuteness of the one to whom it is proposed; the riddle is not so petty as the conundrum, and may require much acuteness for its answer; a problem may require simply study and scholarship, as a problem in mathematics; a puzzle may be in something other than verbal statement, as a dissected map or any perplexing mechanical contrivance. Both enigma and puzzle may be applied to any matter difficult of answer or solution, enigma conveying an idea of greater dignity, puzzle applying to something more commonplace and mechanical; there are many dark enigmas in human life and in the course of providence; the location of a missing object is often a puzzle.

   Synonyms:
   conundrum, enigma, paradox, problem, riddle

   Antonyms:
   answer, axiom, explanation, proposition, solution

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. puzzleverb

   Synonyms:
   pose, perplex, embarrass, bewilder, confound, mystify, confuse

   Antonyms:
   enlighten, instruct, illumine

2. puzzlenoun

   Synonyms:
   embarrassment, be wilderment, enigma, confusion, conundrum, intricacy, labyrinth

   Antonyms:
   disentanglement, solution, explanation, extrication, clue

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:3.0 / 2 votes

1. puzzle, puzzler, mystifier, teasernoun

   a particularly baffling problem that is said to have a correct solution

   "he loved to solve chessmate puzzles"; "that's a real puzzler"

   Synonyms:
   teaser, mystifier, tease, tormentor, tormenter, puzzler, vexer, annoyer

2. puzzleverb

   a game that tests your ingenuity

   Synonyms:
   mystifier, teaser, puzzler

3. perplex, vex, stick, get, puzzle, mystify, baffle, beat, pose, bewilder, flummox, stupefy, nonplus, gravel, amaze, dumbfoundverb

   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"

   Synonyms:
   drum, lay, take, cause, receive, get at, outfox, wash up, foil, start, besot, father, experience, mystify, pound, rile, stun, have, become, sustain, stay, put, scram, regulate, drive, start out, amaze, stimulate, sire, model, devil, cohere, sting, engender, get to, cleave, go, fix, scotch, pay back, annoy, stick, suffer, beat up, beat, set about, trounce, get down, thrum, incur, posture, stick by, draw, contract, bring forth, grow, dumbfound, stupefy, exhaust, overreach, stick around, set out, agitate, flap, rag, crush, arrest, stick to, develop, outwit, throw, bring, bewilder, nettle, irritate, mother, set, personate, stir up, lodge, quiver, buzz off, catch, present, scramble, wedge, shake up, make, beget, flummox, stand by, thump, cross, get, generate, bind, complicate, nark, find, outsmart, deposit, cling, obtain, vex, worry, pose, adhere, capture, position, aim, induce, ticktack, spoil, perplex, work over, tucker out, raise up, bother, bunk, gravel, begin, disturb, impersonate, fetch, discombobulate, circumvent, let, get under one's skin, frustrate, sit, astound, arrive, tick, produce, pulsate, convey, thwart, bond, acquire, come, bemuse, tucker, commove, pay off, bilk, astonish, ticktock, bugger off, beat out, hold fast, chafe, vanquish, shell, stay put, place, nonplus, commence, baffle

4. puzzleverb

   be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide

   "We puzzled over her sudden departure"

   Synonyms:
   bewilder, get, perplex, stupefy, dumbfound, gravel, baffle, stick, vex, nonplus, pose, amaze, beat, flummox, mystify

Matched Categories

1. • Ponder

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:3.0 / 1 vote

1. obnubilateverb

   Submitted by rinat on May 31, 2023  

2. pentomino

   Submitted by rinat on August 11, 2019  

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. puzzleverb

   Synonyms:
   perplex, embarrass, bewilder, confound, stagger, pose, nonplus, confuse, mystify

2. puzzlenoun

   Synonyms:
   riddle, enigma, mystery, poser, knotty point

3. puzzlenoun

   Synonyms:
   perplexity, embarrassment, quandary, nonplus

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. puzzlenoun

   Synonyms:
   enigma, conundrum, intricacy, maze, crux, riddle, rebus, poser, confusion, quandary, perplexity, nonplus, bewilderment

2. puzzleverb

   Synonyms:
   mystify, pose, nonplus, perplex, bewilder, confuse

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "puzzle":

   jigsaw, riddle, enigma, puzzles, conundrum, mystery, headache, patchwork, mosaic

How to pronounce puzzle?

How to say puzzle in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use puzzle in a sentence?

1. John Perry:

   There are hundreds of factors that determine your future health and there are millions of things that influence birth weight [and] height. This is one incremental factor of many that contribute to this, keep in mind it is complicated, but it is an interesting piece of the jigsaw puzzle of biology.

2. Nicole Willcoxon:

   The [ available ] climate research shows that there's a clear risk for mass migration, social divides and inequality increasing, potential food crises and things like that, while this study didn't directly measure those things, we think it's a clear implication out of the [ available ] research showing that if well-being continues to drop at the levels that we project, it could exacerbate these issues even more deeply, or that it's a piece of the puzzle that we're missing at this point of what is the human toll.

3. C. C. Colton:

   Doubt is the vestibule which all must pass before they can enter the temple of wisdom. When we are in doubt and puzzle out the truth by our own exertions, we have gained something that will stay by us and will serve us again. But if to avoid the trouble of the search we avail ourselves of the superior information of a friend, such knowledge will not remain with us; we have not bought, but borrowed it.

4. Dawn Doyle:

   It's like a puzzle. There's no specific answer, but the fact that there was a connection showed she had some cognitive ability. It was her way of trying to connect with you.

5. Larry Lemke:

   I think UFO reports represent a substantive puzzle that warrants serious scientific attention, without advocating any particular position on what the answer to that puzzle is … whether it is purely psychological, purely physical or some combination of the two.