baffled
Americanadjective
-
bewildered or perplexed; puzzled.
I went to bed shaking my head, completely baffled and amazed at the strange turn the day had taken.
-
equipped with one or more baffles, or structures to obstruct the movement of fluids, sound, etc..
Any spraying operations shall be done within a baffled or enclosed area of the solvent cleaning machine.
-
thwarted.
“Every anarchist is a baffled dictator,” wrote Mussolini.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of baffled
Explanation
When you're baffled, you're confused or perplexed. Being baffled is being befuddled, bewildered, confounded, or mixed up. If you're baffled, you can't understand something. Some people are baffled by math; others are baffled by things celebrities do. Some are baffled at why anyone would care what celebrities do. Sometimes when you're baffled, you genuinely can't figure something out, and other times, you just disapprove. For example, a teacher could say, "I'm baffled that you missed the test!" As long as the world is full of odd things, we'll all spend part of our lives baffled.
Vocabulary lists containing baffled
Similes from Top AP English Exam Novels
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A Long Way Gone
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
My tech friends are exuberant about abundance, reluctant to discuss who will benefit from it, and baffled that so many Americans are anxious about AI and questioning capitalism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Since history's most powerful telescope went online in 2022, it has been spotting many extremely bright cosmic objects dubbed "little red dots" in the early universe that have baffled scientists.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
When officers finally acted, they pulled only half the hose out, leaving the rest coiled inside the cabinet, and stood there baffled as to why the water wouldn’t flow.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
“I understand that I have value as a performer, but I still don’t get how I got this part,” he says, sounding a bit baffled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
The baffled mother cat looked at me uncertainly and followed at a cautious distance, meowing.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
