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单词 puzzle
释义 puz·zle
I. \ˈpəzəl\ verb
(puzzled ; puzzled ; puzzling \-z(ə)liŋ\ ; puzzles)
Etymology: origin unknown
transitive verb
1. obsolete : to make it difficult for (a person) to choose or carry out a course of action : bewilder, confound
 < more puzzled than the Egyptians in their fog — Shakespeare >
2.
 a. : confuse, perplex
  < puzzle my sad brains about life — L.P.Smith >
 b. : to bewilder mentally : confuse or nonplus the understanding of
  < a malignant fever which puzzled the doctors — John Buchan >
  < are often puzzled and sometimes annoyed by the ways of other peoples who are strange to us — W.A.Parker >
3. archaic : to make intricate : complicate, entangle
 < disentangle from the puzzled skein — William Cowper >
4. : to proceed along in a mentally laborious manner
 < teen-age boys who puzzle their way through geometry — Newsweek >
intransitive verb
1.
 a. : to be uncertain as to action or choice : become bewildered or perplexed
  < we puzzled for two moons about where to put you — Nora Waln >
 b. : to exercise one's mind : attempt a solution of a puzzle
  < I puzzled over her words and sought to attach to them some intelligent meaning — Rafael Sabatini >
2. : to search in a confused manner : grope
 < puzzled about in his desk for the missing file of letters >
Synonyms:
 mystify, perplex, bewilder, distract, nonplus, confound, dumbfounded: these verbs in the uses here compared all signify to disturb mentally, baffle, or throw into mental disorder or immobility. puzzle and mystify both suggest a complication or intricacy difficult to understand or explain, mystify suggesting more often a complication purposely created as by the concealment or obscuring of essential fact
  < the questions which doubtless puzzle most of us — Town Journal >
  < the secret of the enigma that puzzled me — L.P.Smith >
  < it was the riddle of life that was puzzling and killing her — Arnold Bennett >
  < why more visitors to South America do not take this memorable river trip mystifies my wife and me — L.A.Keating >
  < once prescriptions were written almost altogether in Latin. This was not done to mystify the patient — Morris Fishbein >
  < historical paraphernalia with which to mystify their unsuspecting clients — American Guide Series: New York >
  perplex and bewilder add the ideas of uncertainty and, often, worry to that of puzzlement, bewilder implying a consequent and usually complete intellectual disorder
  < on their arrival they were perplexed by radical differences in language, customs, and environment — American Guide Series: Rhode Island >
  < Gates was greatly perplexed to know what to do — H.E.Scudder >
  < they were perplexed, vexed and worried — Ernie Pyle >
  < textbooks in bewildering variety confronted the pioneer teacher — American Guide Series: Washington >
  < the bewildering confusion of our times — Matthew Arnold >
  < a character bewildered by a confusion of values — R.B.West >
  distract suggests the perturbation of an uncertain though not necessarily puzzled or bewildered mind, implying, rather, strongly conflicting preoccupations or interests
  < his fury is that of a temporarily distracted boy — Walter Goodman >
  < a man distracted between two spiritual homes — Time >
  < the conflict of races and religions which had so long distracted the island — T.B.Macaulay >
  nonplus suggests a blankness of mind often attendant upon complete bafflement
  < the pilots write: — “It was imperative that we should not find ourselves nonplussed in an emergency in the air …” — Times Literary Supplement >
  < the problem which nonplusses the wisest heads on this planet … What is reality? — L.P.Smith >
  < she was utterly nonplussed by the pair of them … What on earth were they? — Elizabeth Goudge >
  confound implies a mental confusion attendant upon astonishment or complete abashment
  < professional critics … should be confounded by the book's evidence of careful research — Beka Doherty >
  < someone who can furnish him with the sort of evidence of the authenticity of his picture that would satisfy a special juryman and confound a purchasing dealer — Clive Bell >
  dumbfound may be interchangeable with confound but usually suggests a stronger effect, a confounding to the point of mental paralysis or wonderment
  < to be so dumbfounded as to be unable to speak for a moment >
  < apparently too dumbfounded by the insane assault to interfere seriously — Al Newman >
  < his schoolmates are astonished; his fellow-soldiers are dumbfounded — J.M.Brinnin >
II. noun
(-s)
1. : the state of being puzzled : mental embarrassment : perplexity
 < the transition from a state of puzzle and perplexity to rational comprehension — William James >
2.
 a. : something that puzzles : a difficult question or problem
  < it is more a puzzle than a comfort to see those children growing so fine and straight — Claudia Cassidy >
  < this young man was an unaccountable puzzle — J.H.Powers >
 b. : a question, problem, toy, or contrivance designed for testing ingenuity — see chinese puzzle, crossword, jigsaw puzzle
Synonyms: see mystery
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更新时间:2024/11/10 17:18:35