PUZZLE WORDS · SIMPLY EXPLAINED
Go beyond a one-line meaning. Explore a clear explanation, a natural example sentence and extra dictionary meanings for each of the sixteen words, without revealing the groups.
Showing all 16 words
The part of the day from noon until evening.
Daily puzzle explanationa conventional expression of greeting or farewell
the part of the day between noon and evening
Example: “he spent a quiet afternoon in the park”
A mattress that can be stored flat and inflated for use.
Daily puzzle explanationa mattress that can be stored flat and inflated for use
A thin sphere of liquid or other material filled with air or gas.
Daily puzzle explanationa dome-shaped covering made of transparent glass or plastic
an impracticable and illusory idea
Example: “he didn't want to burst the newcomer's bubble”
a speculative scheme that depends on unstable factors that the planner cannot control
Example: “his proposal was nothing but a house of cards”
a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide)
expel gas from the stomach
Example: “Please don't burp at the table”
form, produce, or emit bubbles
Example: “The soup was bubbling”
cause to form bubbles
Example: “bubble gas through a liquid”
rise in bubbles or as if in bubbles
Example: “bubble to the surface”
flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise
Example: “babbling brooks”
Relating to the traditional beliefs and practices of ordinary people.
Daily puzzle explanationthe traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community
people in general (often used in the plural)
Example: “they're just country folk”
people descended from a common ancestor
Example: “his family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower”
a social division of (usually preliterate) people
The smooth, closely mown area of grass around a golf hole.
Daily puzzle explanationstreet names for ketamine
green color or pigment; resembling the color of growing grass
any of various leafy plants or their leaves and stems eaten as vegetables
an area of closely cropped grass surrounding the hole on a golf course
Example: “the ball rolled across the green and into the bunker”
a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area
Example: “they went for a walk in the park”
a river that rises in western Wyoming and flows southward through Utah to become a tributary of the Colorado River
an environmentalist who belongs to the Green Party
United States labor leader who was president of the American Federation of Labor from 1924 to 1952 and who led the struggle with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (1873-1952)
turn or become green
Example: “The trees are greening”
of the color between blue and yellow in the color spectrum; similar to the color of fresh grass
Example: “a green tree”
not fully developed or mature; not ripe
Example: “unripe fruit”
naive and easily deceived or tricked
Example: “at that early age she had been gullible and in love”
looking pale and unhealthy
Example: “you're looking green”
concerned with or supporting or in conformity with the political principles of the Green Party
Made from or relating to herbs or other plants.
Daily puzzle explanationtea-like drink made of leaves of various herbs
of or relating to herbs
Example: “herbal tea, herbal medicine”
Treating the whole person, including mind and lifestyle, not just the symptoms.
Daily puzzle explanationemphasizing the organic or functional relation between parts and the whole
A humorous slang word for the buttocks.
Daily puzzle explanationDevices that adjust electric current by varying resistance.
Daily puzzle explanationThe longer, uncut grass along the sides of a golf fairway.
Daily puzzle explanationthe part of a golf course bordering the fairway where the grass is not cut short
prepare in preliminary or sketchy form
ready and able to resort to force or violence
Example: “pugnacious spirits...lamented that there was so little prospect of an exhilarating disturbance”
unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
Example: “a gravelly voice”
violently agitated and turbulent
Example: “boisterous winds and waves”
not shaped by cutting or trimming
Example: “an uncut diamond”
full of hardship or trials
Example: “the rocky road to success”
not quite exact or correct
Example: “the approximate time was 10 o'clock”
unkind or cruel or uncivil
Example: “had harsh words”
unpleasantly stern
Example: “wild and harsh country full of hot sand and cactus”
not perfected
Example: “a rough draft”
(of persons or behavior) lacking refinement or finesse
Example: “she was a diamond in the rough”
not carefully or expertly made
Example: “managed to make a crude splint”
having or caused by an irregular surface
Example: “trees with rough bark”
causing or characterized by jolts and irregular movements
Example: “a rough ride”
of the margin of a leaf shape; having the edge cut or fringed or scalloped
with rough motion as over a rough surface
Example: “ride rough”
with roughness or violence (`rough' is an informal variant for `roughly')
Example: “he was pushed roughly aside”
A hazard on a golf course.
Daily puzzle explanationa hazard on a golf course
A device that shreds documents (usually in order to prevent the wrong people from reading them).
Daily puzzle explanationa device that shreds documents (usually in order to prevent the wrong people from reading them)
The area of a golf hole from which the first shot is played.
Daily puzzle explanationA rubber ring around a wheel, usually filled with air.
Daily puzzle explanationhoop that covers a wheel
Example: “automobile tires are usually made of rubber and filled with compressed air”
exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress
Example: “We wore ourselves out on this hike”
lose interest or become bored with something or somebody
Example: “I'm so tired of your mother and her complaints about my food”
cause to be bored
deplete
Example: “exhaust one's savings”
Following long-established customs, beliefs or methods.
Daily puzzle explanationconsisting of or derived from tradition
Example: “traditional history”
pertaining to time-honored orthodox doctrines
Example: “the simple security of traditional assumptions has vanished”
A rubber cushion that makes a noise like flatulence when sat on, used as a practical joke.
Daily puzzle explanationThe first explanation is written to make the word easy to understand in ordinary English. Where available, an original example sentence shows how the word can be used. Additional entries are separate senses from Princeton WordNet 3.1, not alternative answers to the puzzle.
WordNet is a lexical reference rather than a complete dictionary of every name, slang term, abbreviation or new expression. A missing entry does not mean a word is invalid.
Daily puzzle record: Fetched from the date-specific public NYT Games JSON endpoint and validated against the requested puzzle date and required fields. The endpoint is undocumented and may change. It does not provide independent editorial hints.
Lexical reference: Princeton WordNet 3.1, hosted on this site. About WordNet · License and attribution.
The example sentences in the daily explanations are original illustrations. Wordle Hint is an independent puzzle helper and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The New York Times.
It lists all sixteen words from the selected daily Connections board. Each entry includes a plain-English meaning, a fuller explanation and an illustrative example where available, followed by other dictionary senses and related words. It does not show the four categories or group answers.
The main word meanings and expanded explanations are editorial descriptions written for this page. Additional meanings, parts of speech, examples and related terms are drawn from the locally hosted Princeton WordNet 3.1 lexical database and labelled separately. The example sentences in the main entries are original illustrations.
Words often have different meanings depending on how they are used. A word can also function as more than one part of speech. The page separates the daily explanation from WordNet senses so you can compare them without confusing one meaning for another.
WordNet does not cover every name, abbreviation, inflection or puzzle-specific form. When there is no direct headword, the page says so rather than inventing a dictionary meaning.
Yes. Open the additional WordNet meanings under a word or follow its dictionary link to search the full English Dictionary, including parts of speech, synonyms and examples.
Open Connections Hints for the same daily puzzle. This page deliberately keeps category names and group answers out of view.