maze

American  

[meyz] / meɪz /

noun

1. a confusing network of intercommunicating paths or passages; labyrinth.

2. any complex system or arrangement that causes bewilderment, confusion, or perplexity.

   Her petition was lost in a maze of bureaucratic red tape.

3. a state of bewilderment or confusion.

4. a winding movement, as in dancing.

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verb (used with object)

mazed, mazing

1. Chiefly Dialect. to daze, perplex, or stupefy.

maze British  

/ meɪz /

noun

1. a complex network of paths or passages, esp one with high hedges in a garden, designed to puzzle those walking through it Compare labyrinth

2. a similar system represented diagrammatically as a pattern of lines

3. any confusing network of streets, pathways, etc

   a maze of paths

4. a state of confusion

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verb

1. an archaic or dialect word for amaze

Other Word Forms

• intermaze verb (used with object)
• mazedly adverb
• mazedness noun
• mazelike adjective
• mazement noun

Etymology

Origin of maze

1250–1300; Middle English mase, noun use of aphetic variant of amasen to amaze

Example Sentences

Some of this river water is diverted into a maze of canals.

From BBC

And around it all, so that only the smallest boats could weave their way through, was a maze of reef, curving from the black rocks on one side to the white cliffs on the other.

From Literature

Funny, easygoing Allun the baker was going to vanish with the others into the secret maze of cliffs and forests that rose above them.

From Literature

They ran down a slope and directly into a maze of the Ingapirca ruins.

From Literature

The elaborate stage design included a maze of sugar cane and a single-story house similar to the one he used during his 31-date residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico, last summer.

From The Wall Street Journal