as in perplexing
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in baffling
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
most of the applicants were befuddled by the wording of one of the questions on the driving test
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for befuddling
Adjective
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Multiple voices in one hand blended into fistfuls of color, and perplexing emphases on accompaniment figures served to distract, rather than elucidate, the musical argument.—
Luke Schulze,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 Mar. 2025 -
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launches New Glenn rocket: What to know about SpaceX rival What's perplexing, the researchers said, is that the magnetar in the galaxy should have disappeared long ago.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA TODAY,
27 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Researchers are particularly focused on unraveling the puzzling interplay between gas content, magma pressure and lava flow dynamics.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
3 Jan. 2025
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Almost two years into his ordeal, Gould learned of an initiative at the National Institutes of Health that focuses on solving the country’s most puzzling medical cases.—
Jason Liebowitz,
The Atlantic,
2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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For the Congolese government, the ineffective Western responses follow a dismaying pattern.—
Michela Wrong,
Foreign Affairs,
3 Mar. 2025
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Americans, and a dismaying number of politicians, keep crying for a crackdown on crimes that aren’t happening.—
F.K. Plous,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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But for those of us who consider a walk of over a half-mile a squandered opportunity to knock a golf ball hither and yon, Los Angeles offers a bewildering array of worthy courses to explore for players of all levels.—
David Weiss,
Forbes,
19 Mar. 2025
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The rising interest in beef tallow is bewildering to Christopher Gardner, PhD, a professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in California and a nutrition scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.—
Fran Kritz,
Verywell Health,
17 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Witnessing a patient’s death, respondents said, was not in itself upsetting.—
Corinne Purtill,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Mar. 2025
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The removal of the storyline has been understandably upsetting to many, especially when the character is still being used in promotional materials.—
James Factora,
Them,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Even though arrests have been made, first-degree murder charges have been filed and the victim laid to rest, this case remains an incomprehensible display of human malice.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC News,
8 Mar. 2025
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Upon agreement, their dialogue shifts to a series of sounds incomprehensible to humans.—
Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes,
25 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Befuddling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/befuddling. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
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