bewilder

English

Etymology

From be- +‎ wilder

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /bɪˈwɪldə(ɹ)/
  • (US) IPA(key): /bɪˈwɪldəɹ/
  • Rhymes: -ɪldə(ɹ)

Verb

bewilder (third-person singular simple present bewilders, present participle bewildering, simple past and past participle bewildered)

  1. (transitive) To confuse, puzzle or befuddle someone, especially with many different things.
    All the different possible options may bewilder us.
    • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter II:
      She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realising that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.
  2. (transitive) To disorientate someone.
    Don't push me into that maze and bewilder me.

Synonyms

  • See also Thesaurus:confuse

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Further reading

  • bewilder in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • bewilder in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
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