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Definition of jigsaw noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

jigsaw

noun
 
/ˈdʒɪɡsɔː/
 
/ˈdʒɪɡsɔː/
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  1. (also jigsaw puzzle)
    (also puzzle especially in North American English)
     a picture printed on cardboard (= very thick, stiff card) or wood, that has been cut up into a lot of small pieces of different shapes that you have to fit together again
    • to do a jigsaw
    Topics Games and toysc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • giant
    • huge
    • 200-piece
    • …
    … of jigsaw
    • bit
    • piece
    verb + jigsaw
    • do
    • piece together
    • finish
    • …
    jigsaw + noun
    • puzzle
    • piece
    phrases
    • a piece in a jigsaw
    See full entry
  2. a mysterious situation in which it is not easy to understand all the causes of what is happening; a complicated problem
    • One piece of the jigsaw is still missing.
    Extra Examples
    • The police managed to piece together the jigsaw and reconstruct the victim's last hours.
    • This is another piece in the jigsaw that will help us understand the biology of cancer.
    • If Hollis was a double agent then the Crabb affair fits neatly into the jigsaw.
  3. a saw (= a type of tool) with a narrow blade for cutting designs in thin pieces of wood or metal
    4. Word Originlate 19th cent.: from the verb jig + the noun saw.
See jigsaw in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
Check pronunciation: jigsaw

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