Puzzlement

noun

noun ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The confusing state of being puzzled; bewilderment. countable, uncountable

    "The puzzlement caused by the complex system led to great anger."

  2. 2
    confusion resulting from failure to understand wordnet
  3. 3
    A puzzle; something baffling. countable, uncountable

    "Or, larger mothers might have not necessarily more progeny but more fit ones, while smaller size might be an advantage to the males, allowing them to get around faster. Finally, for creatures that continue to grow, perhaps more of the females simply live longer, gaining in stature all the time. “'Tis a puzzlement.”"

Synonyms

All synonyms
admirationamazementawebafflebafflementbefuddlement

Example

More examples

"His face betrayed his sheer puzzlement."

Etymology

From puzzle + -ment.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.