puzzlementn.
/ˈpʌzlm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈpəz(ə)lm(ə)nt/ 1. As a count noun: an instance of being puzzled, perplexed, bewildered, or confused; a puzzled state. Also: something that puzzles; a puzzle.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > puzzle, enigma, riddle > [noun]
riddleOE
purposec1350
problema1382
propositiona1382
conclusion1393
divinailc1430
opposal?a1439
riddling?c1475
wordc1480
why1532
dark, hard sentence1535
enigma1539
remblere1599
puzzlement1646
gripha1652
puzzler1651
riddlemy riddlemy1652
puzzle1655
crux1718
teaser1759
puzzleation1767
conundrum1790
poser1793
riddle-me-ree1805
stumper1807
tickler1825
sticker1849
brain-teaser1850
grueller1856
question mark1870
brain-twister1878
skull-buster1926
mind-bender1968
1646 Answer to Scandalous Paper Dispute Anabaptists (title page) A briefe discovery of the grosse mistakes and confused puslements of Anabaptisticall spirits in the point of rebaptising.
1755 J. Gast Haberdasher’s Ser. 21 The other Folks are yet in such a kind of puzzlement, that, in short, they don't know what to say or think of him.
1828 T. Moore in Times 6 May 3/3 There never was job half so tough As the mending a great Major-General's grammar. But, lo, a fresh puzzlement starts up.
1881 Spectator 29 Oct. 1368 A puzzlement for some of the wisest antiquarian heads of Europe.
1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling 84 Hit's been a puzzlement to me all these years since it happened.
1996 J. Doran Red Doran 14 Her wee house was the same size..and it's a puzzlement how such a large family was reared in it.
2006 San Francisco (Calif.) Chron. (Nexis) 21 July (Motor section) F1 It's a puzzlement. Which one to choose?
2. As a mass noun: the fact or condition of being puzzled; perplexity, bewilderment, confusion.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun]
mingingOE
riddleOE
cumbermentc1300
willa1325
encumbrancec1330
were1338
perplexitya1393
discomfiturea1425
cumbrancec1460
confuse1483
proplexity1487
perplexion?c1500
amazedness?1520
amazement1553
subversion1558
amaze?1560
perplexednessa1586
confusedness1587
puzzle1599
confusion1600
mizmaze1604
discomfita1616
embarras1627
obfuscation1628
mystery1629
confoundedness1641
puzzledness1662
confuseness1710
puzzlement1731
puzzledom1748
embarrassment1751
puzzleation1767
bepuzzlement1806
conjecture1815
mystification1817
bewilderment1819
perplexment1826
fuddle1827
wilderment1830
discomforture1832
head-scratching1832
baffle1843
posement1850
muddlement1857
turbidity1868
fogging1878
bemuddlement1884
harl1889
befuddlement1905
turbidness1906
wuzziness1942
perplexability1999
1731 ‘A. Scriblerus’ Gorgoneicon 117 He us'd..when he was a School-Boy to transmute George's Psalms..to his great Plague and Puzzlement.
1822 T. Moore Mem. (1853) III. 350 Four invitations to dinner on my list to-day, but, owing to some puzzlement about Holland House, lost all.
1874 J. Ruskin Let. in Hortus Inclusus (1887) 8 The puzzlement I have had to force that sentence into grammar!
1939 Fortune Oct. 15 (advt.) Then comes..the dignity and well-being that reward one who proudly has carried his family name and fortunes. And with them, frequently, a sense of puzzlement.
1991 C. Pellegrino Unearthing Atlantis 29 We look back with puzzlement to an event that is, according to Plato, supposed to have occurred at least a thousand years before he was born.
2001 Fortean Times Jan. 37/1 In a time when airplane design was still very basic..‘airliners’ shining brilliant spotlights onto towns..created genuine puzzlement.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1646