baffle
Americanverb (used with object)
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to confuse, bewilder, or perplex.
He was baffled by the technical language of the instructions.
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to frustrate or confound; thwart by creating confusion or bewilderment.
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to check or deflect the movement of (sound, light, fluids, etc.).
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to equip with a baffle or baffles.
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Obsolete. to cheat; trick.
verb (used without object)
noun
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something that balks, checks, or deflects.
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an artificial obstruction for checking or deflecting the flow of gases (as in a boiler), sounds (as in the loudspeaker system of a radio or hi-fi set), light (as in a darkroom), etc.
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any boxlike enclosure or flat panel for mounting a loudspeaker.
verb
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to perplex; bewilder; puzzle
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to frustrate (plans, efforts, etc)
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to check, restrain, or regulate (the flow of a fluid or the emission of sound or light)
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to provide with a baffle
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obsolete to cheat or trick
noun
Usage
What does baffle mean? Baffle means to confuse, bewilder, perplex, or confound.The word usually implies that such confusion causes someone to come to standstill—that it stumps them or makes them completely bewildered.You might be baffled by a difficult riddle or confusing instructions. People’s strange behavior might baffle you. The term is often used in the context of experts or scientists being baffled by some newly discovered thing or phenomenon—one they can’t figure out or comprehend.Someone or something that baffles can be described as baffling.As a verb, baffle can also mean to deflect or regulate the movement or flow of something, such as gas or light. The word can also be used as a noun referring to a component or part that does this.Example: This door is completely baffling! I can never figure out how to get it unlocked.
Related Words
See thwart.
Other Word Forms
- bafflement noun
- baffler noun
- baffling adjective
- bafflingly adverb
- bafflingness noun
- unbaffling adjective
- unbafflingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of baffle
First recorded in 1540–50; 1910–15 baffle for def. 8; perhaps from Scots bauchle “to disgrace, treat with contempt,” equivalent to bauch ( baff ) + -le
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.
A mother-of-two says she is "baffled" that smacking a child was ever legal in Wales, nearly three years on from a ban being introduced.
From BBC
It is possible that viewers with more martial experience enjoy the intricacies of military hardware, but for me, the appeal is in their baffling complexity.
Yet she never publicly announced a replacement for Soboroff, baffling some in the Palisades and providing fresh ammunition to her critics.
From Los Angeles Times
The different varieties of AI can also be baffling to newcomers.
Prof Stearns said the policy experts he had spoken to were "baffled" by the timing of the move to capture Uvira.
From BBC
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.
