jigsaw puzzle

noun
1.
Also called picture puzzle. a set of irregularly cut pieces of pasteboard, wood, or the like that form a picture or design when fitted together.
2.
any complex, confusing situation, condition, or item, as one composed of seemingly diverse or unrelated elements.

Origin:
1905–10

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
jigsaw puzzle
 
n
a puzzle in which the player has to reassemble a picture that has been mounted on a wooden or cardboard base and cut into a large number of irregularly shaped interlocking pieces

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Jigsaw puzzle is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

jigsaw puzzle

any set of varied, irregularly shaped pieces that, when properly assembled, form a picture or map. The puzzle is so named because the picture, originally attached to wood and later to paperboard, was cut into its pieces with a jigsaw, which cuts intricate lines and curves. Jigsaw puzzles may be very complicated vis-a-vis the number of pieces and the number of different cuts and thus take many hours to complete

Learn more about jigsaw puzzle with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Example sentences
These stands are interspersed throughout the refuge in a jigsaw puzzle fashion
  to provide a rich mixture of forest habitats.
The final weeks of the fantasy season start to resemble a frustrating jigsaw
  puzzle.
And once you've got the normal gene, you can try to figure out how it fits into
  the jigsaw puzzle of eye development.
In digital translation, a jigsaw puzzle doesn't lose much.
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