bedazzle
Americanverb (used with object)
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to impress forcefully, especially so as to make oblivious to faults or shortcomings.
Audiences were bedazzled by her charm.
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to dazzle so as to blind or confuse.
The glare of the headlights bedazzled him.
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to adorn with features that are brilliant, sparkly, splendid, etc..
You don’t need to bedazzle your business card with glitter, but does it stand out from the crowd?
Both the wealthy and the common flapper could bedazzle themselves in the popular long necklaces of the day.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have bedazzledperfect
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has bedazzledperfect 3rd person singular
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are bedazzlingprogressive
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is bedazzlingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been bedazzlingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am bedazzlingprogressive 1st person singular
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bedazzlessingular 3rd person
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have been bedazzlingperfect progressive
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bedazzlingparticiple
Past
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had been bedazzlingperfect progressive
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had bedazzledperfect
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were bedazzlingprogressive plural
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was bedazzlingprogressive singular
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bedazzledsimple
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bedazzledparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of bedazzle
Explanation
To bedazzle is to charm or impress someone, sometimes to the extent that they feel confused or overwhelmed. A charismatic speaker might bedazzle her audience so much that they all want to buy her new book. Something can literally bedazzle you, or blind you a little bit: the sun glinting off the ocean around your sailboat might bedazzle you. It's more common, however, to find this verb used in a figurative way, when a person amazes or impresses you. The root of bedazzle, the Middle English dasen, or "daze," possibly stems from the Middle Dutch word of the same spelling, which means "act silly."
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.
Especially the marvelous starry seed heads of A. christophii and A. schubertii that are durable enough to bedazzle the garden all summer.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 12, 2022
It's an unexpectedly sentimental exercise to take stock of how you bedazzle, spice, umami and sweeten your eating life — almost like paging through old photo albums.
From Salon • Aug. 14, 2022
There are dozens of other such reincarnations, and they simultaneously bedazzle and befuddle.
From New York Times • Jan. 7, 2022
They didn’t just want to excel; they wanted to bedazzle.
From Washington Post • Aug. 17, 2020
Last spring, Bubbe helped me bedazzle my purple cape.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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.
