Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To confuse or befuddle, especially by being complicated or varied. synonym: perplex.
- transitive verb To cause to lose one's bearings; disorient.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To confuse as to direction or situation; cause to lose the proper road or course: as, the intricacy of the streets bewildered him; to be bewildered in the woods.
- To lead into perplexity or confusion; perplex; puzzle; confuse.
- Synonyms To confound, confuse,mystify, nonplus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To lead into perplexity or confusion, as for lack of a plain path; to perplex with mazes; or in general, to perplex or confuse greatly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
confuse ,puzzle orbefuddle someone, especially with many different things. - verb transitive To
disorientate someone.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be a mystery or bewildering to
- verb cause to be confused emotionally
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I beg the reader not to let the term bewilder him but to make it his own.
Manhood of Humanity. Alfred Korzybski 1914
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The buttons on his push-button phone kind of bewilder him at times.
Beyond the Promised Land: Jews and Arabs on a Hard Road to a New Israel 1994
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Go to Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck's Apsley menus 'bewilder' critic
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Eleven years on and the hurried portraits of Dave, Nick and Mat will this week be put up for auction at a sale which will either bewilder people, or get them hunting through drawers for that elusive bit of paper from the time they got the artist to draw them a picture.
Damien Hirst doodles put up for auction Mark Brown 2010
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A team that focuses heavily on defense and relies on a tough matchup zone to bewilder opponents, Rutgers held foes to fewer than 55 points a game.
Oklahoma City: Sooners out to prove they are title worthy 2009
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That was a little bit of a challenge, and might bewilder some, but it confirmed one truism: Save your manuals!
Robert J. Elisberg: The Writers Workbench: The Slingbox Robert J. Elisberg 2011
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That was a little bit of a challenge, and might bewilder some, but it confirmed one truism: Save your manuals!
Robert J. Elisberg: The Writers Workbench: The Slingbox Robert J. Elisberg 2011
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The nuances never quite settle to a point of reference, and instead confuse, bewilder, and even overwhelm.
Blind Tasting of Finger Lakes Pinot Noir Reveals Progress, Challenges 2009
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"In a Better World" is decorated with some gorgeous photography, both of Denmark and Africa; children in the latter are depicted as joyous, despite the sadistic violence around them; children in Denmark are preoccupied with matters that bewilder the war-weary Anton, who tries to teach the boys a lesson about the never-ending nature of revenge and retribution, but to little effect.
'Insidious': Scary Eyeful of the Unknown John Anderson 2011
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Some of my favorites include: behoove bewilder bologna ... only because it is not spelled the way it sounds nonetheless ... 3 words in 1!
Archive 2009-04-01 Liz 2009
bilby commented on the word bewilder
Etymology?
March 1, 2013
alexz commented on the word bewilder
An universal etymological English dictionary c. 1675
says it comes from Berwildert
Teutonic
http://books.google.ca/books?id=CFBGAAAAYAAJ
March 1, 2013