bewilder
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to confuse utterly; puzzle
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archaic to cause to become lost
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bewilder
Explanation
To bewilder is to amaze, baffle, dumbfound, flummox, perplex, or stupefy. When you bewilder people, you confuse them. Bewilder is a fun-sounding word for confusion-causing. A complicated math problem will bewilder many students. A magician's tricks should bewilder the audience. Mystery stories should be a little bewildering, at least until the end. Sometimes, being bewildered has a more emotional element. If someone you know died in a freak accident, that would bewilder you in a very sad way.
Vocabulary lists containing bewilder
List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Bewilder, be-wil′dėr, v.t. to perplex or lead astray.—p.adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
Do the arts of hell, which on the field Wrought such disastrous ruin, even here Bewilder and befool us?
From Maid of Orleans by Schiller, Friedrich
Bewilder his judgment they might with their glosses upon commandment and observance; but they could not keep his heart from gladness; and, being glad, whom should he praise but God?
From Miracles of Our Lord by MacDonald, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
