Library / English Dictionary

PERPLEX

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make more complicated

Example:

There was a new development that complicated the matter

Synonyms:

complicate; perplex

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

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

complexify (make complex)

embrangle; snarl; snarl up (make more complicated or confused through entanglements)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

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 "perplex" 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 "perplex"):

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 perplex him

The good news will perplex her

The performance is likely to perplex Sue

Credits

 Context examples: 

“There must be something else,” said the perplexed gentleman.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She had no child to connect her with life and happiness again, no relations to assist in the arrangement of perplexed affairs, no health to make all the rest supportable.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

In the rays of the lantern I could see his perplexed face peering down.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

His beard was white with his frozen breath when the perplexed and frowning brows relaxed and decision came into his face.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Holmes was silent and buried in thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds himself in a perplexing position.

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

"This man says, 'An exquisite book, full of truth, beauty, and earnestness.' 'All is sweet, pure, and healthy.'" continued the perplexed authoress.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The calculations revealed that such a model can explain the perplexing spatially clustered orbits of some TNOs.

(Mystery orbits in outermost reaches of solar system not caused by ‘Planet Nine’, University of Cambridge)

Continuing examination of these still-perplexing seasonal dark streaks with a powerful camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows they exist only on slopes steep enough for dry grains to descend the way they do on faces of active dunes.

(Recurring Martian Streaks: Flowing Sand, Not Water?, NASA)

Like the others, it had a daub of asphalt upon its shoulder, and it was only when we saw one of the natives step forward with the air of an owner and give his consent to the beast's slaughter that we understood at last that these great creatures were as much private property as a herd of cattle, and that these symbols which had so perplexed us were nothing more than the marks of the owner.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The driver was perplexed.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)