perplex
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause to be puzzled or bewildered over what is not understood or certain; confuse mentally.
Her strange response perplexed me.
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to make complicated or confused, as a matter or question.
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to hamper with complications, confusion, or uncertainty.
verb
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to puzzle; bewilder; confuse
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to complicate
to perplex an issue
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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perplexsimple
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perplexessimple
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have perplexedperfect
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has perplexedperfect
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am perplexingprogressive
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are perplexingprogressive
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is perplexingprogressive
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have been perplexingperfect progressive
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has been perplexingperfect progressive
Past
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perplexedsimple
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had perplexedperfect
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was perplexingprogressive
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were perplexingprogressive
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had been perplexingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of perplex
First recorded in 1585–95; back formation from perplexed
Explanation
To perplex someone is to amaze, baffle, bewilder, dumbfound, flummox, mystify, or puzzle them. Perplexing things are hard to understand. If you're perplexed, then you're confused. Different things perplex different people. In football, a tricky defense will perplex a quarterback. Complicated formulas can perplex math students. When people do weird things, it can be perplexing. Anything hard to understand might perplex you. Perplexing also means to make something more complicated. So when you see the word perplex, think "Huh?"
Vocabulary lists containing perplex
List 1
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In a Pickle: Words for When You're in Trouble
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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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:
Joao Neves, Kvaratskhelia and Mendes ended up on the left flank in close proximity - an asymmetrical set-up intended to perplex Liverpool.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
Zika, a mosquito-borne virus first identified in 1947 in a Rhesus macaque monkey, continues to perplex scientists in many ways nearly 80 years later.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2025
This pattern of abruptly rejecting safe foods can perplex parents and clinicians alike and, on the surface, can look like dieting.
From Slate ● Jan. 4, 2025
“Brand New Key” wasn’t the first No. 1 song to perplex listeners, and it wouldn’t be the last.
From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
“You puzzle me, Jane: your look and tone of sorrowful audacity perplex and pain me. I want an explanation.”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
“What perplexes me is that despite the plant being known for its stinky smell, it also produces several sweet-smelling chemicals.”
From Salon ● May 27, 2025
“It’s one of the questions that perplexes me.”
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2022
This is the category that most perplexes analysts.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2021
So, if you are a white person and someone calls you racist, and the charge perplexes you, what should you do?
From Washington Post ● Aug. 20, 2019
"She has resisted every offer of kindness, my dear child, and it is the difficulty as to what course to pursue, to compel submission and confession, that so grieves and perplexes me."
From Home Influence A Tale for Mothers and Daughters by Aguilar, Grace
The mind-body question that has perplexed philosophers for millennia has acquired added resonance in the digital era.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Then in the 2010s fertility dropped again, leaving researchers perplexed.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
The analytical coldness of his decisionmaking often perplexed and infuriated Churchill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
I have struggled with my Catholic faith over the years, but nothing has perplexed me more than the idea of suffering.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
It lay across her knees and, with a perplexed frown, the tip of her tongue between her lips, the girl was studying the weapon curiously.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
"Every step further back in time makes the puzzle more perplexing: How did the Universe produce supermassive black holes so quickly?"
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
The weakness in the won then, has been perplexing to many forex analysts.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 3, 2026
Those who dug into his background soon found a perplexing trail of bold statements and obfuscations.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
Could my beloved Pixar, which had already anthropomorphized so many things, really make something so upsetting and perplexing, and on so many levels?
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
But the tension of the elders—their expectation, which weighted like a thick blanket over the crowd—was the most perplexing of all.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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.
