puzzle over
verb
puzzled over; puzzling over; puzzles over
: to think or worry for a long time about (something)
He's been puzzling over what went wrong.
Examples of puzzle over in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But as the evidence mounts, scientists continue to puzzle over the pleasant surprise—how are vaccines that target specific pathogens inadvertently shielding our minds from deterioration?
—
Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 15 May 2026
Jon Hilsenrath, who runs the economic advisory firm Serpa Pinto and covered the Federal Reserve for 26 years at The Wall Street Journal, has puzzled over the same issue, and reads the silence as a form of triage.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 14 May 2026
But perhaps judged by the standards of a more family-friendly, beginner take on the murder mystery, the story’s fairly obvious outcome is a bit more understandable, providing a gentle mystery that all audiences can lightly puzzle over.
—Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 8 May 2026
But the seismic activity fizzled out and nothing else happened, leaving volcanologists and seismologists to puzzle over the episode.
—Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 23 Apr. 2026
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Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 15 May 2026
Jon Hilsenrath, who runs the economic advisory firm Serpa Pinto and covered the Federal Reserve for 26 years at The Wall Street Journal, has puzzled over the same issue, and reads the silence as a form of triage.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 14 May 2026
But perhaps judged by the standards of a more family-friendly, beginner take on the murder mystery, the story’s fairly obvious outcome is a bit more understandable, providing a gentle mystery that all audiences can lightly puzzle over.
—Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 8 May 2026
But the seismic activity fizzled out and nothing else happened, leaving volcanologists and seismologists to puzzle over the episode.
—Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 23 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for puzzle over
Cite this Entry
“Puzzle over.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puzzle%20over. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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