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puzzled

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈpʌ.zl̩d/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

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puzzled (comparative more puzzled, superlative most puzzled)

  1. Confused or perplexed.
    • 1785, William Cowper, “Book III. The Garden.”, in The Task, a Poem, [], London: [] J[oseph] Johnson;  [], →OCLC, page 98:
      They diſentangle from the puzzled ſkein / In vvhich obſcurity has vvrapp'd them up, / The threads of politic and ſhrevvd deſign / That ran through all his purpoſes, []
    • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XI, in Vanity Fair [], London: Bradbury and Evans [], published 1848, →OCLC:
      [W]hen the day of the departure came, between her two customs of laughing and crying, Miss Sedley was greatly puzzled how to act.
    • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond:
      Once or twice he scratched his head, and stared out of the window with a puzzled frown. And each time, after a brief survey of the other side of Half Moon Street, he turned back again to the breakfast table with a grin.
    • 1936, J. R. R. Tolkien, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, Norwood, Pa.: Norwood Editions, published 1976, page 17:
      They could not, it was said, keep Scandinavian bogies and the Scriptures separate in their puzzled brains.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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puzzled

  1. simple past and past participle of puzzle