puzzling

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of puzzle

comparative more puzzling · superlative most puzzling

1. Difficult to understand or explain; enigmatic or confusing; perplexing.

   1 more example

   Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.[…]But withal there was a perceptible acumen about the man which was puzzling in the extreme.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   Synonyms: knotty

plural puzzlings

1. Time spent pondering something confusing.