befuddle
Americanverb (used with object)
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befuddles,
present (3rd person singular)
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befuddled,
past participle, past
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befuddling
present participle
verb
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to confuse, muddle, or perplex
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to make stupid with drink
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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befuddlesimple
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befuddlessimple
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have befuddledperfect
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has befuddledperfect
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am befuddlingprogressive
-
are befuddlingprogressive
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is befuddlingprogressive
-
have been befuddlingperfect progressive
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has been befuddlingperfect progressive
Past
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befuddledsimple
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had befuddledperfect
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was befuddlingprogressive
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were befuddlingprogressive
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had been befuddlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of befuddle
Explanation
To befuddle is to confuse. A sticky exam question can befuddle you, or an awkward question about your whereabouts the night before (how can you remember? You were befuddled, after all.) In sixteenth century Britain a popular thing to do (about the only thing to do) after the hogs had been fed and the chickens put away for the night was fuddle — in other words get pretty drunk. Befuddled was simply the confused state too many pots of mead put your poor brain in, and that's still its basic meaning today. Nowadays, befuddle has a more general meaning of confusion and uncertainty not necessarily caused by too much booze.
Vocabulary lists containing befuddle
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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.
See Examples For:
The absurdist’s power rests in their ability to befuddle and bewilder, trusting the joke will land with the right folks and insult their target’s intelligence.
From Salon ● May 21, 2026
Today’s pitchers befuddle hitters with velocity and spin rate while exiting before 100 pitches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
He says he has drawn on classic police interrogation techniques to befuddle chatbots and get them to "crack".
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2025
Even in the sunlight, the shadows and glare can befuddle landing cameras and sensors.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 8, 2024
It had been work, exhilarating but exhausting all the same, constantly having to befuddle building supers and bellhops and nosy neighbors just for a place to sleep.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Admit it, the Lakers have hitched their future to a guy who might never be consistently great, a guy who dazzles far less than he befuddles.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2023
It still befuddles me whenever I think of it, but why the heck is bacon packaging so incredibly un-user-friendly?
From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2023
The chief concern is whether hostile countries are fielding aerial technology so advanced and weird that it befuddles and threatens the world’s largest military power.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2021
“The reason the ‘Latino vote’ befuddles is because it doesn’t exist, nor do ‘Latino issues,’” Isvett Verde, an opinion editor at The New York Times, wrote in an election postmortem.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 5, 2020
Grape-growers are not in the fog that befuddles growers of tree-fruits in regard to tillage.
From Manual of American Grape-Growing by U. P. Hedrick
No wonder Hilton look befuddled when my dad regaled him with the tale of entering the U.S. for the first time in the trunk of a Chevy in 1968.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
He emptied his bench in a desperate attempt to stem the flow, but his substitutions, five in 12 befuddled minutes, had zero impact.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
“There’s a beetle that emerges on the cusp of summer. It has lots of colors. Blue, gold, purple. It looks like a turtle,” she tells a befuddled Rhaenyra.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
So with his season on the line on Sunday, McCollum drew up a diagonal full-court sprint that befuddled the Gators’ defense and ended with a wide-open 3-pointer for junior Alvaro Folgueiras.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
But the shipping clerk at the Howrah train station was evidently a man both befuddled and diligent.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
It is the story, too, of a generation-long, befuddling decline in the prices of all kinds of things.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Even when her film is utterly befuddling, it’s a joy to behold.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
Many of the most befuddling stocks reviewed by Barron’s are holding companies incorporated in the Cayman Islands or the British Virgin Islands with investors or subsidiaries that are also Caribbean holding companies.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
After getting outclassed for an hour and trailing 1-0 when by rights it should have been two or three, how did Scotland win this monumentally befuddling World Cup qualifier 3-1?
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025
He cocked his head, tapping his lower lip as though he found the concept absolutely befuddling.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
