noun
Etymology
Origin of puzzlement
Explanation
When you're feeling confused, you're experiencing puzzlement. Many people have a sense of puzzlement during their first day at a brand new job, while they are trying to figure out how to please the boss and work the coffee machine. A state of puzzlement is familiar to anyone who's ever been literally lost (on the streets of an unfamiliar city), or figuratively lost (sitting in the wrong math class). If you're puzzled, baffled, confused, or befuddled — that's puzzlement. There's some puzzlement among word experts about where exactly this word comes from. They know puzzle came first, from the earlier pusle, "bewilder," but beyond that its origin is a puzzle.
Vocabulary lists containing puzzlement
Shiloh
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"The Open Window" and "One in a Million"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The first trailer drew massive viewership online, though some fans expressed puzzlement at the show’s new look and feel.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
The decision to choose tiny Monaco for the US-born pope's first trip in Europe since his election last year has caused puzzlement among observers.
From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026
It’s time to turn your puzzlement and distress into legal action.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 11, 2026
After some initial puzzlement from the governor’s office — are you sure?
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 11, 2025
He swallowed, shaking his head in mock puzzlement.
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
