Library / English Dictionary

BEWILDER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be a mystery or bewildering to

Example:

This question really stuck me

Synonyms:

amaze; baffle; beat; bewilder; dumbfound; flummox; get; gravel; mystify; nonplus; perplex; pose; puzzle; stick; stupefy; vex

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "bewilder" is one way to...):

bedevil; befuddle; confound; confuse; discombobulate; fox; fuddle; throw (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bewilder"):

mix up; stump (cause to be perplexed or confounded)

riddle (set a difficult problem or riddle)

elude; escape (be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will bewilder him

The good news will bewilder her

The performance is likely to bewilder Sue

Derivation:

bewilderment (confusion resulting from failure to understand)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to be confused emotionally

Synonyms:

bemuse; bewilder; discombobulate; throw

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "bewilder" is one way to...):

discomfit; discompose; disconcert; untune; upset (cause to lose one's composure)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will bewilder him

The good news will bewilder her

The performance is likely to bewilder Sue

Credits

 Context examples: 

I daresay my face looked as bewildered as yours did just now when first I read this message.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It bewildered her that she should desire to place her hands on that sunburned neck.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

They formed the background of the picture, and were all looking out with eager interest at the same scene which fascinated and bewildered us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control!

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

All the overpowering, blinding, bewildering, first effects of strong surprise were over with her.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I was stiff with long sitting, and bewildered with the noise and motion of the coach: Gathering my faculties, I looked about me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Remember how few minutes I was at Randalls, and in how bewildered, how mad a state: and I am not much better yet; still insane either from happiness or misery.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Once Mars moves into your love sector from February 16 until March 30, your popularity in matters of the heart will be so strong that as a modest Virgo, you might be bewildered by all the positive attention you will garner.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

By this time, my dearest sister, you have received my hurried letter; I wish this may be more intelligible, but though not confined for time, my head is so bewildered that I cannot answer for being coherent.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I was so bewildered that I did not know what to say more.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)