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

Nearly a week after being rescued near Big Bear Lake, Jackie — half of a celebrity bald eagle couple — remains in critical condition as veterinarians continue to puzzle over the cause of her maladies. — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 2026

Economists have long puzzled over how China has managed such rapid, sustained growth despite endemic corruption that has sunk the prospects of many other developing economies. — Andy Browne, semafor.com, 14 July 2026

Yet the political conversation continues to center white women as the decisive variable — the persuadable, the winnable, the ones whose votes need to be courted and earned and puzzled over. — Maia Niguel Hoskin, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026

More than a quarter of a century before, physicists had been puzzling over why energy appeared to be lost during a radioactive process called beta decay. — Simon Frantz, Quanta Magazine, 24 June 2026

Rhymes for puzzle over

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