puzzle out
phrasal verb
puzzled out; puzzling out; puzzles out
: to understand or find (something, such as the answer to a difficult problem) by careful thinking
She puzzled out the meaning of the strange phrase.
Examples of puzzle out in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
These officers are already puzzling out how to lessen the impacts of extreme heat on the public using the fewest dollars possible.
—
Zoya Teirstein, USA TODAY, 6 Aug. 2024
Schmuhl walks us through numerous accounts of the bathtub story, earnestly puzzling out what seems most plausible.
—Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 July 2024
On yet another extremely normal day in Washington in 2024, a Gen Xer, a boomer and a millennial spent several minutes on live television on Monday trying to puzzle out the meaning of a meme.
—Jesús Rodríguez, Washington Post, 23 July 2024
That was how Jack Haldane became the heir in a line of respiratory researchers trying to puzzle out the mysteries of the human body under pressure.
—Rachel Lance, WIRED, 16 Apr. 2024
Beyond that, Sinema’s personal and political situation also makes her decision harder to puzzle out.
—Ronald J. Hansen, The Arizona Republic, 27 Mar. 2024
The disease disproportionately impacts Latinos, Filipinos, Black people, Native Americans, and pregnant people for reasons researchers and physicians are still trying to puzzle out.
—Zoya Teirstein, WIRED, 17 Feb. 2024
Half the fun of a new True Detective season is trying to puzzle out the mystery alongside the characters, and the premiere gives the Reddit detectives enough ammo to start putting major pieces together already.
—Josh Wigler, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Peering Inside the Brain Until recently, the only way to look at human plaques was by analyzing the brains of people who died from the disease — a challenge one scientist compared to looking at a car wreck and trying to puzzle out the accident’s cause.
—Linda Marsa, Discover Magazine, 3 Dec. 2019
Zoya Teirstein, USA TODAY, 6 Aug. 2024
Schmuhl walks us through numerous accounts of the bathtub story, earnestly puzzling out what seems most plausible.
—Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 July 2024
On yet another extremely normal day in Washington in 2024, a Gen Xer, a boomer and a millennial spent several minutes on live television on Monday trying to puzzle out the meaning of a meme.
—Jesús Rodríguez, Washington Post, 23 July 2024
That was how Jack Haldane became the heir in a line of respiratory researchers trying to puzzle out the mysteries of the human body under pressure.
—Rachel Lance, WIRED, 16 Apr. 2024
Beyond that, Sinema’s personal and political situation also makes her decision harder to puzzle out.
—Ronald J. Hansen, The Arizona Republic, 27 Mar. 2024
The disease disproportionately impacts Latinos, Filipinos, Black people, Native Americans, and pregnant people for reasons researchers and physicians are still trying to puzzle out.
—Zoya Teirstein, WIRED, 17 Feb. 2024
Half the fun of a new True Detective season is trying to puzzle out the mystery alongside the characters, and the premiere gives the Reddit detectives enough ammo to start putting major pieces together already.
—Josh Wigler, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Peering Inside the Brain Until recently, the only way to look at human plaques was by analyzing the brains of people who died from the disease — a challenge one scientist compared to looking at a car wreck and trying to puzzle out the accident’s cause.
—Linda Marsa, Discover Magazine, 3 Dec. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puzzle out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near puzzle out
Cite this Entry
“Puzzle out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puzzle%20out. Accessed 25 Sep. 2024.
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