1
as in inexplicable
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2
as in perplexing
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Dissimilar Words
as in baffling
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
it is the cause of the disease that puzzles doctors
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of puzzling
Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 7 Dec. 2025
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year finds a cozy mystery queen reluctantly teaming up with a serious thriller writer to solve the puzzling disappearance of the most renowned author in the world.
—Sabienna Bowman, PEOPLE, 29 Nov. 2025
Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 1 Feb. 2026
Cops and EMTs arrived at the puzzling scene on 65th Ave.
—Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 1 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for puzzling
Adjective
For more than a decade, cosmology has been stuck with a puzzling contradiction.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 7 Dec. 2025
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year finds a cozy mystery queen reluctantly teaming up with a serious thriller writer to solve the puzzling disappearance of the most renowned author in the world.
—Sabienna Bowman, PEOPLE, 29 Nov. 2025
Verb
However, all archaeologists found in this intriguing passage were an iron horseshoe, a fox skeleton, and mammal bones — a puzzling assortment.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 1 Feb. 2026
Cops and EMTs arrived at the puzzling scene on 65th Ave.
—Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 1 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for puzzling
Recent Examples of Synonyms for puzzling
Adjective
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There were undeniably some highlights in the last hour of the ceremony, namely Theron’s inexplicable presence, rapper Ghali and his wonky dove made of dancers, and of course Andrea Bocelli, looking like an extremely suave Bond villain.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
7 Feb. 2026
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Tottenham have this inexplicable knack of bringing the worst out of them.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
2 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The oven was equally perplexing.—
Jason Fried,
The Atlantic,
7 Feb. 2026
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It’s been part of a perplexing trend this season for Peterson, who has missed 10 full games and notable portions of 10 others with nagging injuries.—
Justin Williams,
New York Times,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Georgia basketball’s matchup with Tennessee ended in baffling fashion Wednesday night.—
Olivia Sayer,
AJC.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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The pilot of a private jet reportedly made an eerie discovery while flying thousands of feet over Rhode Island, marking the latest in unexplained encounters baffling both experts and civilians alike.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
22 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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For several months, a mysterious sign displayed in the windows of vacant storefront in Shorewood has intrigued passersby along Capitol Drive.—
Claudia Levens,
jsonline.com,
10 Feb. 2026
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To anyone who's gotten a bill three months after treatment only to find mysterious charges, the idea seemed intuitive.—
Darius Tahir,
NPR,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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In 2021, one year into D’Amaro’s tenure and following COVID shutdowns, Disney did away with FastPass and introduced a confounding and very costly series of pay-to-skip passes, which require timing advanced booking of limited slots in these formerly free-to-enter shorter lines.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
5 Feb. 2026
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The Eagles were a confounding defending champion throughout the regular season.—
Jeff Howe,
New York Times,
5 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Even a principled, well-meaning actor like Claude could face bewildering ethical conflicts.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
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And aren’t our real-life romantic complications bewildering enough?—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims called in to tip lines were examined.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
9 Feb. 2026
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Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims, called in to tip lines, were examined.—
Michael R. Sisak,
Fortune,
8 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Having stabilized his ship in orbit around the black hole, Dr Hans Reinhardt (a bizarre, OTT performance from Maximilian Schell) now plans to fly into it, assisted by an unquestioning crew of automatons with a very dark origin story.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
8 Feb. 2026
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That's bizarre to me, especially those two.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Puzzling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/puzzling. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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