puzzle over

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to think carefully about something because it is difficult to understand

   Prepositional verb · Inseparable

   puzzle over something / puzzle over why/how something happens

   Usage: Over introduces the difficult matter or an embedded question: puzzle over why it happened.

   The detectives continued to puzzle over the unexplained footprints beside the window.

   Sources and attribution

   OpenAI Codex authors; independent AI editorial review recorded in the corpus review archive. — Original project editorial material; cleared for The Missing Workbook

   • The Missing Workbook: original construction review

   The detectives continued to puzzle over the unexplained footprints beside the window.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary