Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The state of being perplexed or puzzled.
- noun The state of being intricate or complicated.
- noun Something that perplexes.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An intricate or involved state or condition; the character of being intricate, complicated, or involved.
- noun The state of being perplexed; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment.
- noun A perplexing circumstance, state of things, or conjuncture of affairs; whatever is a source of distraction or puzzlement of mind.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The state or quality of being
perplexed ; puzzled or confused. - noun Something that
perplexes .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun trouble or confusion resulting from complexity
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Joe queried, glancing in perplexity from the picture to 'Frisco Kid's face.
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Joe queried, glancing in perplexity from the picture to 'Frisco Kid's face.
Chapter XVI 1902
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Under any other circumstances, Romola would have been sensitive to the appeal at the beginning of Savonarola's speech; but at this moment she was so utterly in antagonism with him, that what he called perplexity seemed to her sophistry and doubleness; and as he went on, his words only fed that flame of indignation, which now again, more fully than ever before, lit up the memory of all his mistakes, and made her trust in him seem to have been a purblind delusion.
Romola George Eliot 1849
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So George W. Bush's visage of belligerent perplexity is currently airbrushed out of the special collector's edition commemorative display plate version of the past, because ... well, because not only was he a blistering embarrassment to the conservative movement, but because his policies are the exact ones they want to vote back into office two weeks from now.
Ad mire Tom Toles 2010
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Growth, some of the economists are conceding in perplexity, has been "decoupled" from widely shared prosperity.
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Growth, some of the economists are conceding in perplexity, has been "decoupled" from widely shared prosperity.
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If I may quote what I said in perplexity a couple of years ago:
Election 2004 2008
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If I may quote what I said in perplexity a couple of years ago:
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If I may quote what I said in perplexity a couple of years ago:
Stromata Blog: 2007
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When the guy shook his head, maybe he was shaking his head in perplexity at HIMSELF.
Normal Dave Hingsburger 2007
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