puzzle out

puzzle out
verb
find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of (Freq. 2)
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did you solve the problem?

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Work out your problems with the boss

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this unpleasant situation isn't going to work itself out

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did you get it?

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Did you get my meaning?

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He could not work the math problem

• Syn: ↑solve, ↑work out, ↑figure out, ↑lick, ↑work
• Derivationally related forms: ↑workable (for: ↑work), ↑solution (for: ↑solve), ↑solver (for: ↑solve), ↑solvent (for: ↑solve), ↑solving (for: ↑solve)
• Hypernyms: ↑understand
• Hyponyms:
↑answer, ↑resolve, ↑riddle, ↑strike, ↑guess, ↑infer, ↑break
• Entailment: ↑reason
• Verb Frames:
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Somebody ——s something

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transitive verb
: to solve, discover, or work out by mental effort or ingenuity

puzzled it out and made a translation of it — Van Wyck Brooks

don't bother to combine the symptoms in their own mind and puzzle out the diagnosis — A.J.Cronin

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ˌpuzzle ˈout [transitive] [present tense I/you/we/they puzzle out he/she/it puzzles out present participle puzzling out past tense puzzled out past participle puzzled out] phrasal verb
to solve a confusing or complicated problem by thinking carefully about it
puzzle out who/​what/​why etc:

She seemed to be trying to puzzle out who the caller might be.

Thesaurus: to successfully deal with a problem or difficultysynonym
Main entry: puzzle

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puzzle out [phrasal verb]
puzzle (something) out or puzzle out (something) : to understand or find (something, such as the answer to a difficult problem) by careful thinking

She puzzled out the meaning of the strange phrase.

• • •
Main Entry: ↑puzzle

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • puzzle out — (something) to study something in order to understand it. The reader shouldn t have to puzzle out what the writer means …   New idioms dictionary

  • puzzle out — index solve Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • puzzle out — phrasal verb [transitive] Word forms puzzle out : present tense I/you/we/they puzzle out he/she/it puzzles out present participle puzzling out past tense puzzled out past participle puzzled out to solve a confusing or complicated problem by… …   English dictionary

  • puzzle out — PHRASAL VERB If you puzzle out a problem, you find the answer to it by thinking hard about it. [V P wh] He left for his summer cottage to puzzle out what he might try next... [V P n (not pron)] Nosenko puzzled out Kutya s surname... [V n P] The… …   English dictionary

  • puzzle out something — puzzle out (something) to study something in order to understand it. The reader shouldn t have to puzzle out what the writer means …   New idioms dictionary

  • puzzle out — I (Roget s IV) v. Syn. figure out, work out, decipher; see solve . II (Roget s Thesaurus II) I verb To find the key to (a code, for example): break, crack, decipher, decrypt. See KNOWLEDGE. II verb See puzzle …   English dictionary for students

  • puzzle out — verb To figure out; to discover or find a solution; to deduce …   Wiktionary

  • puzzle something out — ˌpuzzle sthˈout derived to find the answer to a difficult or confusing problem by thinking carefully Syn: ↑work out • puzzle something out why, what, etc… He was trying to puzzle out why he had been brought to the house. Main entry: ↑puzzle …   Useful english dictionary

  • puzzle — puz zle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {puzzled} (p[u^]z z ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {puzzling} (p[u^]z zl[i^]ng).] 1. To perplex; to confuse; to embarrass; to put to a stand; to nonplus. [1913 Webster] A very shrewd disputant in those points is dexterous in… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • puzzle — [puz′əl] vt. puzzled, puzzling [ME * poselen (inferred < pp. poselet), to bewilder, confuse < ?] to perplex; confuse; bewilder; nonplus vi. 1. to be perplexed, etc. 2. to exercise one s mind, as over the solution of a problem n. 1. the… …   English World dictionary

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