as in mysteries
something hard to understand or explain
why he chose to sink all of his money into a failing business is a real head-scratcher
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Recent Examples of head-scratchers
Some lineup decisions were head-scratchers, but there was a mandate to try to develop the young guys as much as possible, and Warsofsky gave them a longer leash.
—
Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2026
Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for head-scratchers
Noun
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These are some of life’s great mysteries.—
Hannah Madlener,
Glamour,
24 Apr. 2026
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Balls and strikes are simple, at least compared to the mysteries of goalie interference.—
Sean McIndoe,
New York Times,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Bob Gray is one of the big enigmas in the book that are intentionally put there to create tension and are never solved.—
Scott Huver,
Deadline,
26 Apr. 2026
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Toss in plenty of brutal murders, bizarre prophecies, time-bending enigmas, and haunting hallucinations — all seemingly tied to Lucy’s mysterious meetings with the Hannibal Lecter-like Gideon Shepherd (Peter Capaldi) — and this one's well worth losing six hours of sleep over.—
Matt Cabral,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!—
Kathleen Wong,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2026
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Apple works at this vertiginous juncture where Emily Dickinson goes rumbling into Etta James and, lately, Beyoncé; where Nico solves puzzles with Randy Newman, Kurt Weill, Nina Simone and the Beatles.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Head-scratchers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/head-scratchers. Accessed 4 May. 2026.
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