Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Puzzling |
PuzzlingAdjective1. Not clear to the understanding; "I didn't grasp the meaning of that enigmatic comment until much later"; "prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries". 2. Lacking clarity of meaning; causing confusion or perplexity; "sent confusing signals to Iraq"; "perplexing to someone who knew nothing about it"; "a puzzling statement". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "puzzling" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Synonyms: PuzzlingSynonyms: confusing (adj), enigmatic (adj), enigmatical (adj), perplexing (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Unintelligibility | Illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical; enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret); indecipherable. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Puzzling |
| English words defined with "puzzling": complicatedness, complication, confusing, cryptic ♦ knottiness ♦ perplexing, Puzzlingly. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | The Hubble Space Telescope is hot on the trail of a puzzling new class of solar system object ... Credit: NASA. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Theodore Roosevelt | I am hard at work on my message to Congress, and accordingly shall not try to go out or see any one either this afternoon or this evening. All of this work is terribly puzzling at times, but I peg away at it, and every now and then, when the dust clears away and I look around, I feel that I really have accomplished a little, at any rate. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | In the 1860s, an English surgeon named William Little wrote the first medical descriptions of a puzzling disorder that struck children in the first years of life, causing stiff, spastic muscles in their legs and, to a lesser degree, their arms. These children had difficulty grasping objects, crawling, and walking. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Puzzling" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 51.00% of the time. "Puzzling" is used about 200 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 51% | 102 | 32,309 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 48.5% | 97 | 33,269 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.5% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 200 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "puzzling": puzzling secret. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "puzzling": ever-puzzling. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
puzzling question | 4 |
answer catholic catholic church genuflect other puzzling question why | 3 |
puzzling | 2 |
proverb puzzling | 2 |
book by gardiner mathematical puzzling | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "puzzling"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | i mistershëm (cryptic, hidden, magic, magical, mysterious, mystic, occult, uncanny, weird), i çuditshëm (bizarre, cranky, curious, dark, eccentric, electric, erratic, extraordinary, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, frabjous, freak, freakish, funny, grotesque, kinky, odd, oddish, off beat, outlandish, peculiar, pixilated, quaint, queer, quizzical, rummy, strange, surprising, uncanny, unco, unnatural, unusual, viewy, way out, weird, whimsical). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | لا يفسر, غامض (abstruse, ambiguous, cloudy, deep, dim, double faced, dreamy, enigmatic, evasive, fuzzy, grave, hazy, impenetrable, incomprehensible, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, indistinguishable, inscrutable, intangible, lax, magic, magical, misty, mysterious, mystic, nebulous, obscure, occult, opaque, recondite, secret, shady, sketchy, slippery, sloppy, uncertain, unintelligible, vague, woolly), عجيب (amazement, bizarre, fanciful, freakish, funny, marvellous, marvelous, odd, odd jobs, peculiar, phenomenal, portentous, prestigious, rats, rum, staring, stupendous, tall, temperamental, weird, wonder, wonderful, wondrous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 困惑 (puzzled, Quandaries, Quandary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | pulmallinen (complicated, difficult, hard), ongelmallinen (involved, problematic), arvoituksellinen (enigmatic, problematic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | mystérieux, inexplicable, déroutant, curieux. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | rätselhaft (baffling, cryptic, cryptically, enicmatical, enigmatic, enigmatically, enigmaticly, mysterious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | αινιγματώδησ, αινιγματικόσ (cryptic, enigmatic, oracular), δύσλυτοσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | rejtélyes (baffling, cryptic, enigmatic, enigmatical, inscrutable, mysterious, recondite, secret, uncanny). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | sconcertante (abashing, baffling, bewildering, disconcerting, uncanny), incomprensibile (fathomless, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, inconceivable, unintelligible). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | やっ付ける (after a little while, complex, complicated, dangerous, indiscriminately, presently, skips-most-stations Touhoku-line shinkansen, tangled, to beat). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | やや"しい (complex, complicated, tangled). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 당혹게함. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | keishtagh (interrogative, interrogatory, problematic, problematical), boiragh (bothersome, uncomfortable, vociferous, worrying). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | uzzlingpay intrincado (fussy, knotty, perplexed), enigmático (darkling, enigmatic, mysterious, unaccountable), embaraçoso (awkward, cloggy, cumbersome, cumbrous, embarrassing, muff, straitened), difícil (arduous, cornered, cramped, difficile, difficult, fussy, go-ahead, hard, inconvenient, kid-glove, knotty, labored, laboured, nice, painful, pernickety, ponderous, rugged, thankless, thorny, ticklish, tough, tricky, trying, well-made), complicado (abstract, complex, complicated, crab, crabbed, elaborate, intricate, knotted, knotty, many-sided, tricky). (various references) încurcat (daedal, difficult, embarrassed, foul, intricate, involved, matted, perplexed, perplexedly, tangled, tortuous, winding), încâlcit (addle, intricate, intricately, matted, perplexed, tangled). (various references) сбивающий с толку (blinding, confusing, off-putting), озадачивать недоуменный, приводящий в замешательство. (various references) zagonetan (enigmatic, inscrutable, mysterious). (various references) misterioso (dark, eerie, eery, eldritch, inscrutable, intriguing, lurid, mysterious, occult, odd, oracular, queer, shrouded in mystery, spooky, subtil, subtile, subtle, uncanny, weird). (various references) gåtfull (enigmatic, mysterious, oracular, unaccountable), förbryllande (baffling, confusing, intriguing). (various references) kafa karıştırıcı (confusing, perplexing), bilmece gibi (enigmatic, enigmatical), şaşırtıcı (amazing, astonishing, astounding, baffling, bewildering, colossal, confused, confusing, dazzling, incredible, intriguing, mind-bending, perplexing, rum, spectacular, staggering, startling, striking, surprising, twisty), anlaşılmaz (bottomless, clear as mud, complicated, deep, delphic, elusive, elusory, fathomless, impenetrable, inapprehensible, inarticulate, incomprehensible, inconceivable, inexplicable, inscrutable, intangible, obscure, occult, opaque, oracular, perplexed, recondite, sphinxlike, unaccountable, uncanny, unintelligible, vague, weird). (various references) бентежний (affecting, baffling, discouraging, embarrassing). (various references) l m khó xử, l m bối rối (discomposingly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Araucaria araucana. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "puzzling": puzzlingly. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "puzzling": unpuzzling. (additional references) | |
| |
"Puzzling" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: buzzling, Penzlin, pezzoli, pozzolana, pussling, puzzeling. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "puzzling" (pronounced pu"zuling or pu"zling) |
| 6 | -u" z u l i ng | guzzling. |
| 5 | -z u l i ng | dazzling, drizzling, embezzling, fizzling, sizzling. |
| 4 | -u l i ng | ambling, assembling, babbling, backpedaling, baffling, barreling, battling, belittling, bicycling, boggling, bottling, bristling, bubbling, bugling, bumbling, bundling, bungling, bustling, cackling, canceling, cancelling, channeling, chortling, circling, coddling, commingling, counseling, cradling, crippling, crumbling, cycling, dabbling, dangling, Dialing, disabling, disgruntling, dismantling, doubling, dribbling, dwindling, empaneling, enabling, encircling, entitling, equaling, fondling, fumbling, funneling, gambling, giggling, gobbling, groveling, grueling, grumbling, gurgling, haggling, hassling, hobbling, huddling, humbling, hurdling, hustling, idling, imperiling, initialing, intermingling, jiggling, jostling, juggling, labeling, leveling, mangling, marshaling, meddling, middling, mingling, mislabeling, modeling, mottling, muddling, mumbling, muscling, nibbling, paddling, paneling, parceling, pedaling, peddling, piddling, pummeling, quadrupling, quarreling, quibbling, raveling, recycling, redoubling, refueling, remodeling, resembling, reshuffling, reveling, rippling, rivaling, ruffling, rumbling, saddling, scrambling, scribbling, scuttling, settling, shriveling, shuttling, signaling, signalling, singling, spiraling, spiralling, squabbling, stapling, stenciling, strangling, struggling, stumbling, swiveling, tabling, throttling, tingling, tinkling, toppling, totaling, totalling, toweling, traveling, travelling, trembling, tripling, troubling, tumbling, tunneling, twinkling, unraveling, unsettling, waggling, warbling, wiggling, wobbling, wrangling, wrinkling, yodeling. |
| 3 | -l i ng | ailing, angling, annealing, appalling, appealing, assailing, bailing, baling, balling, bankrolling, beguiling, Belling, billing, blackmailing, boiling, Bolling, bowling, brawling, broiling, buckling, burgling, burling, cajoling, calling, Carling, ceiling, chilling, chronicling, chuckling, compelling, compiling, concealing, consoling, controlling, cooling, corralling, countervailing, coupling, cowling, crackling, crawling, cuddling, culling, curling, curtailing, darling, dawdling, dealing, decoupling, derailing, detailing, dispelling, dissembling, distilling, doling, drilling, drooling, duckling, dueling, dulling, dumpling, dwelling, earthling, emailing, enrolling, entailing, entangling, excelling, expelling, extolling, failing, falling, feeling, felling, fiddling, filing, filling, flailing, fledgling, foaling, foiling, fooling, forestalling, foretelling, fouling, foundling, freewheeling, fueling, fuelling, fulfilling, galling, grappling, Grayling, grilling, groundling, growling, hailing, handling, hauling, healing, heckling, helling, hilling, holing, howling, hurling, hurtling, inhaling, inkling, installing, instilling, jailing, Keeling, killing, kindling, kneeling, lolling, Lulling, mailing, Marling, Melling, milling, mishandling, misspelling, mothballing, mulling, nailing, needling, nestling, nonruling, oiling, outselling, overbilling, overhauling, overkilling, overruling, overselling, panhandling, paralleling, parboiling, paroling, patrolling, pearling, peeling, pickling, piling, Pilling, Pindling, poling, polling, pooling, prevailing, profiling, propelling, prowling, pulling, quelling, quilling, Quisling, railing, rambling, rankling, rappelling, rattling, rebelling, recalling, reconciling, reeling, regaling, rekindling, repealing, repelling, rescheduling, reselling, retailing, retelling, retooling, revealing, ridiculing, Riesling, rifling, rilling, roiling, rolling, rototilling, ruling, rustling, sailing, sampling, Sandling, sapling, scaling, scheduling, Schilling, schooling, scowling, sealing, seedling, Seeling, selling, shelling, shilling, shoveling, shuffling, sibling, skilling, smelling, smiling, smuggling, snarling, Snelling, snowballing, sparkling, Sparling, spelling, spilling, spoiling, sprawling, sprinkling, squealing, stalling, starling, startling, stealing, sterling, stifling, stockpiling, stonewalling, storytelling, straddling, strickling, stripling, strolling, styling, suckling, surveilling, swashbuckling, swelling, swilling, swindling, swirling, tackling, tailing, tangling, telling, thrilling, Tilling, toddling, toggling, toiling, tolling, tooling, trailing, trampling, trickling, trifling, trilling, trolling, twiddling, twirling, unappealing, unavailing, unbundling, underling, underselling, unfailing, unfeeling, unfurling, unsmiling, untangling, unveiling, unwilling, veiling, waffling, wailing, walling, weakling, welling, whaling, wheeling, whirling, whistling, whittling, wholesaling, wiling, willing, wrestling, yearling, yelling. |
| 4 | -z l i ng | Quisling, Riesling. |
| 3 | -l i ng | ailing, ambling, angling, annealing, appalling, appealing, assailing, assembling, babbling, backpedaling, baffling, bailing, baling, balling, bankrolling, barreling, battling, beguiling, belittling, Belling, bicycling, billing, blackmailing, boggling, boiling, Bolling, bottling, bowling, brawling, bristling, broiling, bubbling, buckling, bugling, bumbling, bundling, bungling, burgling, burling, bustling, cackling, cajoling, calling, canceling, cancelling, Carling, ceiling, channeling, chilling, chortling, chronicling, chuckling, circling, coddling, commingling, compelling, compiling, concealing, consoling, controlling, cooling, corralling, counseling, countervailing, coupling, cowling, crackling, cradling, crawling, crippling, crumbling, cuddling, culling, curling, curtailing, cycling, dabbling, dangling, darling, dawdling, dazzling, dealing, decoupling, derailing, detailing, Dialing, disabling, disgruntling, dismantling, dispelling, dissembling, distilling, doling, doubling, dribbling, drilling, drizzling, drooling, duckling, dueling, dulling, dumpling, dwelling, dwindling, earthling, emailing, embezzling, empaneling, enabling, encircling, enrolling, entailing, entangling, entitling, equaling, excelling, expelling, extolling, failing, falling, feeling, felling, fiddling, filing, filling, fizzling, flailing, fledgling, foaling, foiling, fondling, fooling, forestalling, foretelling, fouling, foundling, freewheeling, fueling, fuelling, fulfilling, fumbling, funneling, galling, gambling, giggling, gobbling, grappling, Grayling, grilling, groundling, groveling, growling, grueling, grumbling, gurgling, guzzling, haggling, hailing, handling, hassling, hauling, healing, heckling, helling, hilling, hobbling, holing, howling, huddling, humbling, hurdling, hurling, hurtling, hustling, idling, imperiling, inhaling, initialing, inkling, installing, instilling, intermingling, jailing, jiggling, jostling, juggling, Keeling, killing, kindling, kneeling, labeling, leveling, lolling, Lulling, mailing, mangling, Marling, marshaling, meddling, Melling, middling, milling, mingling, mishandling, mislabeling, misspelling, modeling, mothballing, mottling, muddling, mulling, mumbling, muscling, nailing, needling, nestling, nibbling, nonruling, oiling, outselling, overbilling, overhauling, overkilling, overruling, overselling, paddling, paneling, panhandling, paralleling, parboiling, parceling, paroling, patrolling, pearling, pedaling, peddling, peeling, pickling, piddling, piling, Pilling, Pindling, poling, polling, pooling, prevailing, profiling, propelling, prowling, pulling, pummeling, quadrupling, quarreling, quelling, quibbling, quilling, railing, rambling, rankling, rappelling, rattling, raveling, rebelling, recalling, reconciling, recycling, redoubling, reeling, refueling, regaling, rekindling, remodeling, repealing, repelling, rescheduling, reselling, resembling, reshuffling, retailing, retelling, retooling, revealing, reveling, ridiculing, rifling, rilling, rippling, rivaling, roiling, rolling, rototilling, ruffling, ruling, rumbling, rustling, saddling, sailing, sampling, Sandling, sapling, scaling, scheduling, Schilling, schooling, scowling, scrambling, scribbling, scuttling, sealing, seedling, Seeling, selling, settling, shelling, shilling, shoveling, shriveling, shuffling, shuttling, sibling, signaling, signalling, singling, sizzling, skilling, smelling, smiling, smuggling, snarling, Snelling, snowballing, sparkling, Sparling, spelling, spilling, spiraling, spiralling, spoiling, sprawling, sprinkling, squabbling, squealing, stalling, stapling, starling, startling, stealing, stenciling, sterling, stifling, stockpiling, stonewalling, storytelling, straddling, strangling, strickling, stripling, strolling, struggling, stumbling, styling, suckling, surveilling, swashbuckling, swelling, swilling, swindling, swirling, swiveling, tabling, tackling, tailing, tangling, telling, thrilling, throttling, Tilling, tingling, tinkling, toddling, toggling, toiling, tolling, tooling, toppling, totaling, totalling, toweling, trailing, trampling, traveling, travelling, trembling, trickling, trifling, trilling, tripling, trolling, troubling, tumbling, tunneling, twiddling, twinkling, twirling, unappealing, unavailing, unbundling, underling, underselling, unfailing, unfeeling, unfurling, unraveling, unsettling, unsmiling, untangling, unveiling, unwilling, veiling, waffling, waggling, wailing, walling, warbling, weakling, welling, whaling, wheeling, whirling, whistling, whittling, wholesaling, wiggling, wiling, willing, wobbling, wrangling, wrestling, wrinkling, yearling, yelling, yodeling. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "g-i-l-n-p-u-z-z" | |
-2 letters: puling. | |
-3 letters: lungi, lupin, unzip. | |
-4 letters: gulp, iglu, ling, lung, ping, plug, puli, pung, zing. | |
-5 letters: gin, gip, gnu, gul, gun, lin, lip, lug, nil, nip, pig, pin, piu, pug, pul, pun, zig, zin, zip. | |
| Words containing the letters "g-i-l-n-p-u-z-z" | |
+2 letters: puzzlingly, unpuzzling. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
