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:
• 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
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.
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Main Entry: ↑puzzle
Useful english dictionary. 2012.