bewildered
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bewildered
Explanation
If a conversation about quantum mechanics leaves you feeling bewildered, or lost and befuddled, don't feel bad: physics is a baffling and confusing subject. Be- + wildered = "thoroughly gone astray, into the wild," which is pretty much what our minds do when we don't understand something, when we don't even come close to understanding it. If you're bewildered, you are confused on a whole new level. You may even find your confusion confusing. Great synonyms for this word include at sea, bemused, confounded, and mixed-up.
Vocabulary lists containing bewildered
Of Mice and Men
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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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.
Bewildered, Lindsay returns to visit Peggy again—only to find her house emptied and abandoned.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
Bewildered by the sudden influx of armed and armored agents swarming my hometown, on Tuesday morning, I decided to walk a sweltering mile in their shoes.
From Slate • Aug. 13, 2025
Bewildered: Most of us learn our communication styles from our family of origin.
From Washington Post • Aug. 5, 2022
Bewildered, she brings him home, putting him up first in a storage shed and then in her home.
From New York Times • Mar. 10, 2022
Bewildered, the delegates stumbled and groped their way out of the meeting.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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.
