How to Use head-scratching in a Sentence

head-scratching

noun
  • Yet that hardly accounts for the bulk of the head-scratching cases.
    USA TODAY, 23 Feb. 2024
  • At Florida, the former Gainesville high school star was as apt to make a highlight-reel play as a head-scratching one.
    Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel, 25 Apr. 2023
  • The head-scratching announcement of a plan to have a plan comes as pressure mounts on Democrats over the looming fiscal crisis.
    Taryn Luna, Los Angeles Times, 21 Mar. 2024
  • The circumstances of their struggle made this a head-scratching mystery as much as a standard-fare loss.
    Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 28 Nov. 2023
  • Bitcoin is in the midst of another head-scratching rally.
    Vicky Ge Huang, WSJ, 28 Oct. 2023
  • There were not any overtly head-scratching decisions or play calls, just a lot that backfired.
    Matt Cohen | McOhen@al.com, al, 10 Sep. 2023
  • Still, the music continues to override any of the head-scratching behaviors Future, Metro Boomin, and all of their friends engage in.
    Jayson Buford, Rolling Stone, 16 Apr. 2024
  • Here’s our rundown of all the highs, lows, and head-scratching choices from this year’s Grammy nominations.
    Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 10 Nov. 2023
  • Years ago, the company imposed a tape delay on West Coast viewers, a head-scratching choice for a world with social media.
    Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2023
  • In some kind of head-scratching botanical magic trick, these sponges come from long, thin gourds of the cucumber family.
    Melissa Breyer, Treehugger, 29 Aug. 2023
  • Costly engines There are other head-scratching issues raised by the report.
    Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 25 May 2023
  • This really gets back to the head-scratching performance of Miami’s offense in big games this season.
    Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 11 Jan. 2024
  • Against that backdrop, Musk’s Twitter has made several head-scratching announcements this month, some of which might only add to its challenges.
    Clare Duffy, CNN, 10 Apr. 2023
  • The head-scratching rally in VinFast Auto shares came to a sudden halt on Tuesday, erasing $83 billion of market value.
    John Cheng, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2023
  • Beyoncé's wax figure is the latest in a long line of head-scratching celebrity likenesses.
    Lauren Huff, EW.com, 8 Feb. 2024
  • There’s often a perception that some of these powerful people who make head-scratching decisions — Donald Trump comes to mind — are playing some kind of 3D chess.
    Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 31 July 2023
  • Bitcoin has touched its highest level since May 2022 in a head-scratching rally that follows a summer of low volatility and trading volumes.
    WSJ, 30 Oct. 2023
  • Yet beyond the inevitable tween-behaving-stupidly moments, there are head-scratching sequences, like a snowmobile chase that appears to have parachuted in from a James Bond movie.
    Brian Lowry, CNN, 12 May 2023
  • Tesla might make its numbers on the sale of its vehicles, but the automaker has a curious side gig: offering head-scratching products.
    Chris Morris, Fortune, 25 Mar. 2024
  • Legal experts accused Cannon of handing Trump a series of head-scratching victories over the course of those proceedings.
    Katherine Faulders, ABC News, 9 June 2023
  • Almost a year of contentious, sometimes head-scratching machinations surrounding the future of the Magic City Classic has reached a tenuous crossroads.
    Roy S. Johnson | Rjohnson@al.com, al, 19 Sep. 2023
  • That desperation to find an identity shows most in the Warriors’ sometimes head-scratching rotation pattern.
    Shayna Rubin, The Mercury News, 5 Jan. 2024
  • The dysfunctional and unreliable offense featured plenty of head-scratching play calls and three-and-out drives, often letting down the high-performing defense.
    Nicole Yang, BostonGlobe.com, 8 July 2023
  • Athleisure giant Lululemon offers a head-scratching version in a sweat-wicking fabric better suited to gym clothes.
    Ashley Ogawa Clarke, wsj.com, 20 Apr. 2023
  • A number of social media posts from defense contractors have doled out some head-scratching clues that could hint at previously unacknowledged aircraft—or aircraft to come.
    Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 7 July 2023
  • But there are head-scratching UAP reports, Kirkpatrick added, primarily because of a lack of data associated with those cases.
    Leonard David, Scientific American, 9 June 2023
  • The long-running quiz competition show has aired since 1964, providing generations of families with head-scratching trivia for decades.
    Milan Polk, Men's Health, 9 May 2023
  • But as even Theory himself indicated, that one seemingly head-scratching decision may have been a massive blessing in disguise.
    Blake Oestriecher, Forbes, 1 Apr. 2023
  • Were his various entertainment properties exercises in camp or earnest to an almost head-scratching extreme?
    Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 July 2023
  • That recognition has not translated to his three separate Power Five stints as a head coach, which have instead been defined by unrealized expectations, head-scratching losses and consistent failures in games against ranked competition.
    Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY, 9 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'head-scratching.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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