to puzzle out

Examples

• All

• Dunwin squinted, trying to puzzle out what she was talking about, but she waved him away.

  Fiction book (1993)

• The idea of a first-grade student trying to puzzle out a number with ten places after the decimal is silly.

  Academic text (2013)

• There was no need to puzzle out the plot.

  Academic text (2017)

• I am a digital native who is trying to puzzle out what exactly that means.

  Blog text (14)

• That's what I keep trying to puzzle out.

  The Deep (1977)

• Line after line of disembodied dialogue appears, and readers must puzzle out who says what.

  Academic text (2009)

• The story is over; he has triumphed, but he's still puzzling it out.

  Fiction book (1991)

• Time to begin puzzling out what kind of pig in a poke he'd bought.

  Fiction book (2001)

• Having anticipated his demand and puzzled out his strategy, the wary aliens had sprung their trap.

  Fiction book (1998)

• Are they projections, our mind's way of sorting and planning and puzzling out or imagining?

  Blog text (24)

Synonyms

F

to figure out

vsto puzzle out

• Informal

∞ 2.2

To think about something and find an answer or understand it

is the same idea but slightly more informal in tone

S

to solve

vsto puzzle out

∞ 1.3

To find the answer to a problem or puzzle

places more emphasis on making sense of confusing information

W

to work out

vsto puzzle out

950 2.8

To find a solution or plan by thinking carefully

focuses more on broad problem solving than detailed planning

C

to crack the code

vsto puzzle out

14 5.7

To find the secret meaning or solution in something difficult

is general sense making, not focused on secret systems

S

to suss

vsto puzzle out

• UK

14 8.4

To find out what is happening by looking for facts and clues

relies more on internal thought than on active clue searching

F

to ferret out

vsto puzzle out

• Informal

13 6.7

To search carefully to find hidden facts or documents

depends more on inner thinking than on active searching

S

to suss out

vsto puzzle out

• UK

8 8.2

To find out what is really happening

leans on thinking hard rather than external checking or searching

U

to unravel the mystery

vsto puzzle out

8 5.2

To make a difficult or confusing problem clear

applies to making sense of any confusing matter, not only mysteries

R

to reason out

vsto puzzle out

3 4.8

To think carefully to find an answer to a problem

uses more general hard thinking rather than strict logical method

U

to unriddle

vsto puzzle out

1 7.2

To find the answer to a riddle or mystery

is broader, covering general difficult problems not only mysteries

S

to scooby

vsto puzzle out

• Slang

9.9

To understand something difficult or confusing

is more neutral and standard for serious thinking

Antonyms

C

to confuse

266 1.9

Make someone unable to think clearly or make something hard to understand

M

to misunderstand

53 1.8

To think something is true when it is not

How Difficult

to decipher

80 4.6

to puzzle out

4 4.4

to figure out

• Informal

∞ 2.2

to work out

122 2.8

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology