puzzle over

phrasal 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

An Ergonomics Expert Offers Advice Similar to a century ago, today’s evolutionary biologists continue to puzzle over human upright posture. —Beth Linker, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024

Scientists are puzzled over what's causing hundreds of fish to wash up dead in South Florida, including an endangered species native to the region. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 29 Mar. 2024

Many are left to puzzle over what Gaetz’s ultimate political objective is, beyond self-serving anarchy. —Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2024

For the better part of four months, NASA scientists in Houston puzzled over an infuriating conundrum. —Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 31 Jan. 2024

Awarded $1 million in compensation by Virginia, the 67-year-old lives quietly in rural North Carolina, taking occasional RV trips with his girlfriend and puzzling over smartphones and social media. —Ken Dilanian, NBC News, 15 Jan. 2024

People can also puzzle over this film’s casting of two controversial actors: Vincent Gallo and James Franco. —Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 17 Jan. 2024

His team puzzled over the stuck fasteners and the limitations posed by the container’s quarantine in a sealed box. —Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 31 Jan. 2024

In the past year or so, analysts have puzzled over why public sentiment about the economy has remained so negative despite inflation falling, G.D.P. growing steadily, and wages rising faster than prices since last summer. —John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2024