puzzle over

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

More deeply, San Diego’s Muslims have been puzzling over the roots of the hatred that sent two young men into a holy place with the intent to commit mass murder. —Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2026

Our two Yank interlopers spend some time puzzling over what that supernatural secret might be, before all is revealed in a burst of fantastical exposition toward the end of Act 1. —Chris Willman, Variety, 27 May 2026

Clark and an electrician puzzle over unexplained power outages and new breakers that have formed on the circuit board. —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 27 May 2026

But as the evidence mounts, scientists continue to puzzle over the pleasant surprise—how are vaccines that target specific pathogens inadvertently shielding our minds from deterioration? —Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 15 May 2026

Rhymes for puzzle over

• carryover
• changeover
• crossover
• cutover
• flashover
• hangover
• holdover
• layover
• leftover
• makeover
• moreover
• passover