not clear to the understanding; "I didn't grasp the meaning of that enigmatic comment until much later"; "prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries"
Used in a Sentence
puzzling
How to use puzzling in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for puzzling.
Editorial note
I just find it puzzling, as in, "That's odd, I must not understand what this is all about, after all.
Examples10
Definitions2
Parts of speech1
Quick take
not clear to the understanding; "I didn't grasp the meaning of that enigmatic comment until much later"; "prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries"
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of puzzling gathered in one view.
lacking clarity of meaning; causing confusion or perplexity; "sent confusing signals to Iraq"; "perplexing to someone who knew nothing about it"; "a puzzling statement"
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for puzzling.
adjective
not clear to the understanding; "I didn't grasp the meaning of that enigmatic comment until much later"; "prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries"
See also: enigmatic, enigmatical
adjective
lacking clarity of meaning; causing confusion or perplexity; "sent confusing signals to Iraq"; "perplexing to someone who knew nothing about it"; "a puzzling statement"
See also: confusing, perplexing
Example sentences
I just find it puzzling, as in, "That's odd, I must not understand what this is all about, after all.
Another puzzling factor is the clarity of the glass.
San Francisco is the most puzzling and frustrating city to try to comprehend.
"I find the individualist rhetoric in Silicon Valley to be puzzling.
I don't disagree with the overall article, but I find this question puzzling:> I haven’t spent any time with the homeless in the United States.
This is by far the most informative [edit: if speculative] article I've read on Snowden's choice of Hong Kong, which has been the most puzzling detail of the whole story.
What if I want to opt-out of paying the "Safe Rides Fee", does that mean a car with three wheels will show up piloted by an unsavory character?This is a really puzzling move by Uber.
She told him that it had to be ‘a great green dragon’, but when he asked her why, she couldn’t answer, thereby starting him down the road of puzzling over matters linguistic and philologic his whole life long.
From the article:>> One puzzling aspect of power supply discussion in the book Steve Jobs[1] is the statement that the Apple II's power supply is "like those used in oscilloscopes", since oscilloscopes are just one small use for switching power supplies.
Yep. Historians are gonna find low-res digial camera pics extremely puzzling, as the quality of photography in their archives goes up and up and up from the invention of photography - then completely plummets when people start using digital comaeras - then plummets to even worse than black and white photography from a hundred years ago, when it comes to shitty phone or web cams that happen to capture something interesting, then slowly climbs up again.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use puzzling in a sentence?
I just find it puzzling, as in, "That's odd, I must not understand what this is all about, after all.
What does puzzling mean?
not clear to the understanding; "I didn't grasp the meaning of that enigmatic comment until much later"; "prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries"
What part of speech is puzzling?
puzzling is commonly used as adjective.