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.
Other times, I was interviewing believers and, more often, their bewildered loved ones.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Thrust into the political wilderness the party's national leaders were bewildered - familiar with the trappings of federal power they had to work out what to do in opposition.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Birds and other animals, bewildered by unforeseen night, start behaving strangely.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
At first, I was pleasantly surprised, if a little bewildered because of who they came from.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
He imagined their bewildered snuffling sounds as they found the water even lower than before.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
