maze
Americannoun
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mazes
plural
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a confusing network of intercommunicating paths or passages; labyrinth.
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any complex system or arrangement that causes bewilderment, confusion, or perplexity.
Her petition was lost in a maze of bureaucratic red tape.
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a state of bewilderment or confusion.
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a winding movement, as in dancing.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a complex network of paths or passages, esp one with high hedges in a garden, designed to puzzle those walking through it Compare labyrinth
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a similar system represented diagrammatically as a pattern of lines
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any confusing network of streets, pathways, etc
a maze of paths
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a state of confusion
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of maze
1250–1300; Middle English mase, noun use of aphetic variant of amasen to amaze
Explanation
A maze is a puzzle with twists and turns, where you try to find a path from the entrance to the exit without hitting dead ends. You can walk through a maze, or let your pencil do the walking. The goal of a maze is to get through it, which means going the wrong way, retracing your steps, and choosing different paths. There are mazes that you walk through, and mazes on paper where you draw a line to the end. You can also use maze for any complicated system, like the maze of hallways and staircases in an enormous new school. Originally, maze meant "delusion or bewilderment," which captures what it's like to be inside one.
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:
"You are trying to establish answers yourself - but it takes you down a maze of rabbit holes," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
To measure learning and memory, the scientists used a common laboratory experiment called the Morris water maze.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
The refinery -- built in the 1960s in then communist-ruled East Germany -- is a maze of metal pipes, huge tanks and stone chimneys the size of more than 1,200 football fields.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
And I wasn’t entirely thrilled with “Backrooms” getting lost in the maze of its metaphors, either.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
Students calling themselves the Travel Bureau guided escapers from East to West through the city’s maze of sewer pipes.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
They navigated mazes and remembered previously encountered objects almost as effectively as younger mice, while outperforming similarly aged mice whose EP2 receptors continued functioning normally.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
The building, filled to its ceilings, grew increasingly dilapidated; Langley’s paranoia about suspected intruders led him to build mazes of detritus to throw them off.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
For decades, the neighborhood had an eclectic mix of residents, including a radio announcer who built mazes for children using wooden pallets and a man who started a public market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
In Pokémon Blue, which became popular on Nintendo Game Boy devices in the late 90s, players must navigate through a series of mazes, catch Pokémon and battle so-called “gym masters” to earn badges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Which isn't really surprising, I suppose; this was also the age of ecclesiastical mazes - which may have served as metaphors for pilgrimages to Jerusalem - such as those at Chartres and Lucca Cathedrals.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
I want to assume I’m headed toward civilization, but America’s public lands are mazed with old roads that peter out far from anything.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 11, 2020
Across the patio, the mazed eyes, mind-sickness, and poignant affection between Galván and what he calls “my family”, echo down 10 years on different faces.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 8, 2019
Passing coffeehouses and boutiques, I arrived at a room mazed by long tables, with cardstock and Sharpie pens as place settings.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 13, 2018
I knew it had to do with being poor, with learning English and studying the mazed map of London.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2015
I was but mazed for a moment, Startled out of myself by your words.
From Jeremiah A Drama in Nine Scenes by Stefan Zweig
It’s mazing how quickly perspective can shift in this league.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2011
I am the rock, The spiked foundations of the plan ye rear Among the mazing stars.
From Time Magazine Archive
The mountain barrier ahead, looming darkly forbidding in the starlight, with its mazing hollows and woodland crowns, was incapable of inspiration at the moment.
From The Forfeit by Ridgwell Cullum
Oh! what tones, What mazing sight is this!
From Count Alarcos; a Tragedy by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
In the meane time take order for the fight, 2260 Drums let your fearefull mazing thunder playe.
From The Tragedy Of Caesar's Revenge by Anonymous
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.
