puzzle over
phrasal verb
puzzled over; puzzling over; puzzles over
: to think or worry for a long time about (something)
He's been puzzling over what went wrong.
Examples of puzzle over in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Scholars have puzzled over the moai on Easter Island for decades, pondering their cultural significance, as well as how a Stone Age culture managed to carve and transport statues weighing as much as 92 tons.
—
Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 21 June 2024
Teams of lawyers studied the watch’s provenance and puzzled over how to offer it for sale without raising eyebrows.
—Jay Fielden, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
At the time, Roberts puzzled over them, asking himself what relevance this coupling measurement, seemingly associated exclusively with a single QCD process, could have to the theory’s equations of motion.
—Stanley J. Brodsky, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2024
For a century, physiologists have puzzled over how the body coordinates the switch between storage and release.
—Emily Underwood, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 June 2024
While predictions about the possibility of this particular effect date back to 2011, theorists are still puzzling over the new discovery.
—Daniel Garisto, Quanta Magazine, 29 May 2024
But the people with the power to free him keep puzzling over his crimes, demanding explanations, psychological insight, the thinnest ray of sunlight on his motivations.
—Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2024
The episode prompted angst inside NBC News, where journalists and producers on Wednesday were still puzzling over their bosses’ handling of the situation, according to several people who requested anonymity to discuss private discussions.
—John Koblin, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024
An Ergonomics Expert Offers Advice Similar to a century ago, today’s evolutionary biologists continue to puzzle over human upright posture.
—Beth Linker, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024
Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 21 June 2024
Teams of lawyers studied the watch’s provenance and puzzled over how to offer it for sale without raising eyebrows.
—Jay Fielden, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
At the time, Roberts puzzled over them, asking himself what relevance this coupling measurement, seemingly associated exclusively with a single QCD process, could have to the theory’s equations of motion.
—Stanley J. Brodsky, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2024
For a century, physiologists have puzzled over how the body coordinates the switch between storage and release.
—Emily Underwood, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 June 2024
While predictions about the possibility of this particular effect date back to 2011, theorists are still puzzling over the new discovery.
—Daniel Garisto, Quanta Magazine, 29 May 2024
But the people with the power to free him keep puzzling over his crimes, demanding explanations, psychological insight, the thinnest ray of sunlight on his motivations.
—Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2024
The episode prompted angst inside NBC News, where journalists and producers on Wednesday were still puzzling over their bosses’ handling of the situation, according to several people who requested anonymity to discuss private discussions.
—John Koblin, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024
An Ergonomics Expert Offers Advice Similar to a century ago, today’s evolutionary biologists continue to puzzle over human upright posture.
—Beth Linker, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puzzle over.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near puzzle over
Cite this Entry
“Puzzle over.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puzzle%20over. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
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