maze

[ meyz ]

/ meɪz /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR maze ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a confusing network of intercommunicating paths or passages; labyrinth.

any complex system or arrangement that causes bewilderment, confusion, or perplexity: Her petition was lost in a maze of bureaucratic red tape.

a state of bewilderment or confusion.

a winding movement, as in dancing.

verb (used with object), mazed, maz·ing.

Chiefly Dialect. to daze, perplex, or stupefy.

Nearby words

Origin of maze

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

Related formsmazed·ly

[meyzd-lee, mey-zid-] /ˈmeɪzd li, ˈmeɪ zɪd-/, adverbmazed·ness, nounmaze·like, adjectivein·ter·maze, verb (used with object), in·ter·mazed, in·ter·maz·ing.

Can be confusedmaize maze

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for maze

Everything legal and worth making money from is like a maze.
Rawcus Is the Rapper Behind the Viral ‘White People Crazy’ Video|Rich Goldstein|January 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The maze ends in an expansive Zen garden, complete with a pebble pool-pit and a vast mirror along one wall.
The Royal Academy Wants You to Finish This Artwork|Chloë Ashby|January 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But what was it like for the participants who tried to complete the maze?
Are You Smarter Than a Mouse? Excerpt from Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power|Dan Hurley|January 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Center court was where the eleven arms of the maze met in the middle.
Are You Smarter Than a Mouse? Excerpt from Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power|Dan Hurley|January 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST

What is most important is that Brody has been sent into a maze of tunnels, if you like.
Damian Lewis Spills On ‘Homeland’s’ Shocking Plot Twist and Brody’s Return|Andrew Romano|October 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Yet there was a maze Of circumstance that showed even then to me Perplext and strange.
One-Act Plays|Various
When Dorothy was with Mr. Harley she had been in a maze, a whirl.
The President|Alfred Henry Lewis
He hit the ground running and melted like a shadow into the maze of towering rose-bushes and spreading trees.
The Hour of the Dragon|Robert E. Howard
Cecil, lying in a maze of bitter thought, became aware of the presence of another, and raised his head.
The Bridge of the Gods|Frederic Homer Balch
Nevertheless, Bath was then a maze of only four or five hundred houses, crowded within an old wall in the vicinity of the Avon.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.|Thomas Babington Macaulay

British Dictionary definitions for maze

maze

/ (meɪz) /

noun

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

a similar system represented diagrammatically as a pattern of lines

any confusing network of streets, pathways, etca maze of paths

a state of confusion

verb

an archaic or dialect word for amaze

Derived Formsmazelike, adjectivemazement, noun

Word Origin for maze

C13: see amaze

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for maze

maze

c.1300, "delusion, bewilderment" (also as a verb, "stupefy, daze"), possibly from Old English *mæs, which is suggested by the compound amasod "amazed" and verb amasian "to confound, confuse" (see amaze). Perhaps related to Norwegian dialectal mas "exhausting labor," Swedish masa "to be slow or sluggish." Meaning "labyrinth" first recorded late 14c.