Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The state of being confused or baffled; perplexity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being puzzled; bewilderment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state of being puzzled; perplexity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The confusing state of being puzzled; bewilderment
  • noun A puzzle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun confusion resulting from failure to understand

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Now the question causing some puzzlement is why this leading light in one of the world's biggest banks should have been persuaded to move into the chief executive's chair at Lloyds Banking Group, a U. K.-only operation that was deeply damaged by its purchase of the massively over-stretched HBOS.

    Lloyds Can Expect Foreign Adventures Patience Wheatcroft 2010

  • When they look at me in puzzlement I explain that if they would not give up their spare time to police the streets for nothing why should I?.

    The Truth Behind The £100 Phonecalls « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2010

  • My puzzlement is literal: what the heck is them things?

    Our Glass Lake | clusterflock 2009

  • With the jury looking on in puzzlement, (he) admitted that he was, in fact, Flea.

    Flea, flea, as fast as you can 2007

  • With the jury looking on in puzzlement, (he) admitted that he was, in fact, Flea.

    May 2007 2007

  • In the early days of her despair, my mother would say in puzzlement, “I always just tried to be a good wife.”

    Sunday Scribblings-Good 2006

  • Stage 1: (scratches head in puzzlement): Why does HBM care about Ashlee Simpson?

    Ashlee Simpson and Me | Her Bad Mother 2006

  • In the early days of her despair, my mother would say in puzzlement, “I always just tried to be a good wife.”

    2006 October « Becca’s Byline 2006

  • Only when I became a woman myself did I realize that my efforts had been unsuccessful — that my mother was all too aware of the odd distance between us, with which this puzzlement is intimately connected.

    The House on Kronenstrasse 2005

  • Only when I became a woman myself did I realize that my efforts had been unsuccessful — that my mother was all too aware of the odd distance between us, with which this puzzlement is intimately connected.

    The House on Kronenstrasse 2005

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