Word of the Day

: March 14, 2025

bamboozle

verb bam-BOO-zul

What It Means

To bamboozle someone is to deceive, trick, or confuse them.

// The salesperson bamboozled us into getting a more expensive item than we had planned to buy.

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bamboozle in Context

"'We're not trying to make a perfect film that's, like, got a twist: Oh my God, the coach is a ghost! We're not out to bamboozle audiences or get awards or anything,' [Taika] Waititi told Polygon. The director continued, 'We want to make a nice movie, a true story about a football team, and the only message is, "Be happy and don’t live in the past."'" — Monica Mercuri, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024

Did You Know?

In 1710, Irish author Jonathan Swift wrote an article on "the continual Corruption of our English Tongue" in which he complained of "the Choice of certain Words invented by some pretty Fellows." (Note that pretty originally meant "artful, clever.") Among the inventions Swift disliked was bamboozle, which was used by contemporary criminals. Beyond those who favored the word, little is known of its early days, but the word has clearly defied Swift's assertion that "All new affected Modes of Speech ... are the first perishing Parts in any Language." With its first syllable like a sound effect, bamboozle hints at mystification or magic when it is used to mean "to confuse, frustrate, or perplex," as in "The batters were bamboozled by the pitcher's dazzling curveball."