| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | brain-teaser |
| Synonyms: | bewilderment, brain-twister, charade, closed book, complexity, complication, confusion, conundrum, cryptogram, dilemma, distraction, doubt, embarrassment, enigma, entanglement, intricacy, knotty question, labyrinth, maze, mind-boggler, mystery, mystification, perplexity, plight, poser, predicament, problem, puzzle, puzzlement, quandary, question, rebus, sixty-four dollar question, stickler, strait, stumper, teaser, tough nut to crack, tough proposition, twister |
| Main Entry: | bore |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | drill hole |
| Synonyms: | burrow, gouge out, mine, penetrate, perforate, pierce, pit, prick, punch, puncture, ream, riddle, sink, tunnel |
| Notes: | a boar is a male pig; a boor is a person with rude, clumsy manners and little refinement; a bore is one that is wearingly dull, repetitive, or tedious |
| Main Entry: | conundrum |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | puzzle |
| Synonyms: | brain-teaser, closed book, enigma, mystery, mystification, poser, problem, puzzlement, riddle, why* |
| Main Entry: | enigma |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | mystery |
| Synonyms: | Gordian knot, bewilderment, cliffhanger, conundrum, crux, cryptogram, grabber, knot*, mind-boggler, mind-twister, mystification, parable, perplexity, problem, puzzle, puzzlement, puzzler, question, question mark, riddle, secret, sixty-four dollar question, sphinx, sticker, stickler, stumper, teaser, tough nut to crack, twister, why* |
| Main Entry: | labyrinth |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | maze, complexity |
| Synonyms: | coil, complication, convolution, entanglement, intricacy, jungle, knot, mesh, morass, perplexity, problem, puzzle, riddle, skein, snarl, tangle, web |
| Main Entry: | mystery |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | puzzle, secret |
| Synonyms: | abstruseness, brainteaser, braintwister, charade, chiller, cliffhanger, closed book, conundrum, crux, cryptogram, difficulty, enigma, grabber, inscrutability, inscrutableness, mindboggler, mystification, occult, oracle, perplexity, poser, problem, puzzlement, question, rebus, riddle, rune, secrecy, sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, sphinx, stickler, stumper, subtlety, teaser, thriller, tough nut to crack, twister, whodunit, why* |
| Antonyms: | known, understanding |
| Main Entry: | problem |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | puzzle, question |
| Synonyms: | brainteaser, bugaboo, cliff-hanger, conundrum, enigma, example, grabber, illustration, intricacy, mind-boggler, mystery, poser, puzzler, query, riddle, sixty-four thousand dollar question, stickler, stumper, teaser, twister |
| Antonyms: | solution |
| Main Entry: | puncture |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | poke hole in |
| Synonyms: | bore, cut, cut through, deflate, drill, go down, go flat, knife, lacerate, lance, nick, open, penetrate, perforate, pierce, prick, punch, riddle, rupture |
| Antonyms: | close, sew |
| Main Entry: | screen |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | examine and choose |
| Synonyms: | cull, eliminate, evaluate, extract, filter, gauge, grade, pick out, process, riddle, scan, select, separate, sieve, sift, sort, winnow |