as in mystery
something hard to understand or explain
why he chose to sink all of his money into a failing business is a real head-scratcher
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Recent Examples of head-scratcher
In the span of two minutes, Bay FC went from inches away from going up a goal to giving up a head-scratcher.
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Compiled From Wire Reports, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 June 2025
The fact that any new show like The Pitt can immediately resonate with fans — not to mention the medical world that appreciates the gritty realism — is a bit of a head-scratcher for the team behind the Warner Bros. drama.
—Lynette Rice, Deadline, 12 June 2025
Another real head-scratcher: Who would sell a KitchenAid stand mixer — like ever?
—Sherry Kuehl, Kansas City Star, 11 June 2025
The quote could also be interpreted as the only player worth the star treatment is Jokic, but that would also be a bit of a head-scratcher given Murray's clear value to the team and long tenure with the franchise.
—Seth Quinn, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for head-scratcher
Compiled From Wire Reports, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 June 2025
The fact that any new show like The Pitt can immediately resonate with fans — not to mention the medical world that appreciates the gritty realism — is a bit of a head-scratcher for the team behind the Warner Bros. drama.
—Lynette Rice, Deadline, 12 June 2025
Another real head-scratcher: Who would sell a KitchenAid stand mixer — like ever?
—Sherry Kuehl, Kansas City Star, 11 June 2025
The quote could also be interpreted as the only player worth the star treatment is Jokic, but that would also be a bit of a head-scratcher given Murray's clear value to the team and long tenure with the franchise.
—Seth Quinn, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for head-scratcher
Recent Examples of Synonyms for head-scratcher
mystery
Noun
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With the entire dataset open to the public, the team hopes the fresh eyes, as well as graduate and undergraduate astronomers, will uncover something new and unlock clues about cosmic mysteries like dark matter and the physics of the early universe.—
Jay Kakade
June 22,
New Atlas,
22 June 2025
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But two new studies — which researchers say are among the biggest paleoanthropology papers of the year — detail how scientists were able to extract genetic material from the fossil and help unravel this biological mystery.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN Money,
21 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Head-scratcher.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/head-scratcher. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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