1
as in inexplicable
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in perplexing
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of puzzling
Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2025
Also, has the show’s geography ever been more puzzling than in the Season 7 premiere?
—Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 31 Jan. 2025
Evan Bush, NBC News, 22 Dec. 2024
The recent sightings of puzzling unidentified aircraft in New Jersey and other states have triggered yet another round of unanswered questions — and fueled conspiracy theories.
—Leonard David, Space.com, 21 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for puzzling
Adjective
Merz’s gamble is all the more puzzling because immigration is only one of voters’ many major concerns.
—Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2025
Also, has the show’s geography ever been more puzzling than in the Season 7 premiere?
—Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 31 Jan. 2025
Verb
But in several puzzling cases, no source of infection has been identified.
—Evan Bush, NBC News, 22 Dec. 2024
The recent sightings of puzzling unidentified aircraft in New Jersey and other states have triggered yet another round of unanswered questions — and fueled conspiracy theories.
—Leonard David, Space.com, 21 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for puzzling
Recent Examples of Synonyms for puzzling
Adjective
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Secondly, the money doesn't line up properly, unless the Cowboys for some inexplicable reason are willing to take back Deshaun Watson.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Mar. 2025
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My case is a bit more extreme because the pain is inexplicable, but the mind is very important — very, very important.—
Mario Cortegana,
The Athletic,
25 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Multiple voices in one hand blended into fistfuls of color, and perplexing emphases on accompaniment figures served to distract, rather than elucidate, the musical argument.—
Luke Schulze,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 Mar. 2025
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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launches New Glenn rocket: What to know about SpaceX rival What's perplexing, the researchers said, is that the magnetar in the galaxy should have disappeared long ago.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA TODAY,
27 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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The first season saw Charles eventually wrap the case and leave the nursing home to return to his life, but ended with the PI calling him again to seek his help on a mysterious new case.—
Lauren Huff,
EW.com,
28 Mar. 2025
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Despite Shauna trying to blame her for all the mysterious things happening to her in season 3, Melissa says that Shauna is the problem, the real anti-hero, so to speak.—
Stacy Lambe,
People.com,
28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The goats have been one of the most baffling mysteries to haunt the halls of Lumon and have confused fans since season 1.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes,
21 Mar. 2025
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Divorce is never easy, but sometimes the reasons behind it can be downright baffling.—
Maria Morava,
Newsweek,
10 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Even though arrests have been made, first-degree murder charges have been filed and the victim laid to rest, this case remains an incomprehensible display of human malice.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC News,
8 Mar. 2025
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Upon agreement, their dialogue shifts to a series of sounds incomprehensible to humans.—
Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes,
25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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For Tandy, portraying Fela meant stepping into the shoes of a woman whose true intentions remain unclear until the film’s final moments—adding layers of tension and intrigue to the story.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
31 Mar. 2025
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Hackman and Arakawa were mysteriously found dead in their Santa Fe home during a Feb. 26 welfare check with authorities unclear about their causes of death.—
Alex Stone,
ABC News,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The movie, based on the video game of the same name, centers around four misfits who are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Mar. 2025
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But their work didn’t rule out the possibility of bizarre algorithms that could somehow use the same piece of memory for storage and calculations simultaneously—the computing equivalent of using a page filled with important notes as scratch paper.—
Ben Brubaker,
Wired News,
30 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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When breaches do occur, the notifications are often vague or slow to arrive, leaving users unaware of the risks they have been exposed to—and unsure of how to respond effectively.—
Alex Vakulov,
Forbes,
23 Mar. 2025
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Cooking up breakfast, lunch and dinner miles from the vaguest evidence of human civilization becomes easier than ever before.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
21 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Puzzling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/puzzling. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
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