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Baffle vs Puzzle - What's the difference?

baffle | puzzle |

As verbs the difference between baffle and puzzle

is that baffle is to publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight while puzzle is to perplex (someone).

As nouns the difference between baffle and puzzle

is that baffle is a device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid. Specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether while puzzle is anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of.

baffle

English

Verb

(baffl)
  • (obsolete) To publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.7:
  • He by the heeles him hung upon a tree, / And baffuld so, that all which passed by / The picture of his punishment might see […].
  • (obsolete) To hoodwink or deceive (someone).
  • (Barrow)
  • To bewilder completely; to confuse or perplex.
  • I am baffled by the contradictions and omissions in the instructions.
  • * Prescott
  • calculations so difficult as to have baffled , until within a recent period, the most enlightened nations
  • * John Locke
  • The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us.
  • * Cowper
  • the art that baffles time's tyrannic claim
  • * South
  • a suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all
  • To struggle in vain.
  • A ship baffles with the winds.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A device used to dampen the effects of such things as sound, light, or fluid. Specifically, a baffle is a surface which is placed inside an open area to inhibit direct motion from one part to another, without preventing motion altogether.
  • Tanker trucks use baffles to keep the liquids inside from sloshing around.
  • An architectural feature designed to confuse enemies or make them vulnerable.
  • puzzle

    English

    (wikipedia puzzle)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anything that is difficult to understand or make sense of.
  • Where he went after he left the house is a puzzle.
  • A game for one person that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.
  • A crossword puzzle.
  • A jigsaw puzzle.
  • A riddle.
  • (archaic) Something made with marvellous skill; something of ingenious construction.
  • The state of being puzzled; perplexity.
  • to be in a puzzle

    Synonyms

    * (anything difficult to understand or make sense of ): anybody's guess, anyone's guess, conundrum, enigma, mystery * (game for one person ): brain-teaser, poser * (crossword puzzle ): crossword, crossword puzzle * (''jigsaw puzzle): jigsaw, jigsaw puzzle * (riddle ): guessing game, riddle

    Derived terms

    * Chinese puzzle * crossword puzzle * jigsaw puzzle * monkey puzzle * puzzle out * puzzle over * puzzled * puzzlement * puzzler * puzzling

    Verb

    (puzzl)
  • (label) To perplex (someone).
  • * (Henry More) (1614-1687)
  • A very shrewd disputant in those points is dexterous in puzzling others, if they be not thoroughpaced speculators in those great theories.
  • * (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • He is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own blunders.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
  • , chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}
  • To make intricate; to entangle.
  • * (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate, / Puzzled in mazes, and perplexed with error.
  • * (William Cowper) (1731-1800)
  • They disentangle from the puzzled skein.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * puzzled * puzzle out * puzzle over * puzzle through * puzzler * puzzling

    References

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