puzzle over
phrasal 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
Although frogs today start their lives as tadpoles, researchers have puzzled over when this two-stage lifestyle evolved.
—
Christie Wilcox, science.org, 30 Oct. 2024
Meanwhile, physicists were puzzling over a string of experiments by Heinrich Hertz and others that used light to make a current flow — a phenomenon that came to be called the photoelectric effect.
—Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2024
Political scientists puzzle over the question for good reason: understanding voters, and voting, provides the kind of knowledge that can help citizens access the polls and exercise the kind of power that voting gives them.
—JSTOR Daily, 18 Sep. 2024
There’s certainly little warmth surrounding the past here, beginning with an eerie, cryptic prologue, set in 1973, that sees a rural wedding crashed by yobs in sinister, medieval-looking straw masks, followed by yellowing newspaper headlines that puzzle over the bride’s subsequent disappearance.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Aug. 2024
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Christie Wilcox, science.org, 30 Oct. 2024
Meanwhile, physicists were puzzling over a string of experiments by Heinrich Hertz and others that used light to make a current flow — a phenomenon that came to be called the photoelectric effect.
—Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2024
Political scientists puzzle over the question for good reason: understanding voters, and voting, provides the kind of knowledge that can help citizens access the polls and exercise the kind of power that voting gives them.
—JSTOR Daily, 18 Sep. 2024
There’s certainly little warmth surrounding the past here, beginning with an eerie, cryptic prologue, set in 1973, that sees a rural wedding crashed by yobs in sinister, medieval-looking straw masks, followed by yellowing newspaper headlines that puzzle over the bride’s subsequent disappearance.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for puzzle over
Dictionary Entries Near puzzle over
Cite this Entry
“Puzzle over.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puzzle%20over. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
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