bewilder
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to confuse utterly; puzzle
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archaic to cause to become lost
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bewildersimple
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bewilderssimple
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have bewilderedperfect
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has bewilderedperfect
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am bewilderingprogressive
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are bewilderingprogressive
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is bewilderingprogressive
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have been bewilderingperfect progressive
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has been bewilderingperfect progressive
Past
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bewilderedsimple
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had bewilderedperfect
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was bewilderingprogressive
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were bewilderingprogressive
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had been bewilderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bewilder
Explanation
To bewilder is to amaze, baffle, dumbfound, flummox, perplex, or stupefy. When you bewilder people, you confuse them. Bewilder is a fun-sounding word for confusion-causing. A complicated math problem will bewilder many students. A magician's tricks should bewilder the audience. Mystery stories should be a little bewildering, at least until the end. Sometimes, being bewildered has a more emotional element. If someone you know died in a freak accident, that would bewilder you in a very sad way.
Vocabulary lists containing bewilder
List 3
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Novel Study: The Outsiders, Chapters 1–5
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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
Essential to a wilderness is its capacity to bewilder, and though certain of Church’s colleagues in the Hudson River group, notably Worthington Whittredge, brilliantly captured this dense, enfolding quality, Church seldom did.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
If the soul of Leif Erikson were to materialize inside his statue for a day, much of what he saw would bewilder him.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 13, 2023
The real world may initially bewilder Barbie, but she figures it out.
From New York Times ● Jul. 18, 2023
Actually, it’s far, far worse than that because AT maps—for reasons that bewilder me beyond speculation—provide less detail than even their meager scale allows.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Before grandmother can visit, she is expected to be able to speak to her granddaughter in English — a request that bewilders and aggrieves her, but one that she cannot refuse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
The variety of goals that the Japanese striker scores is astonishing, but all of them have one thing in common - speed of thought that bewilders the unfortunates tasked with the job of marking him.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2023
Basra continually bewilders experts, envoys and residents: How can a relatively stable province so rich in resources rank among the poorest and most under-developed in the country?
From Washington Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
Basra continually bewilders experts, envoys and residents: How can a relatively stable province so rich in resources rank among the poorest and most underdeveloped in the country?
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 23, 2023
"I remember everything—but, dear, there is one thing that grieves and bewilders me—why, why could you not have earned a clean, fine living with your pen ... where was your gift of writing?"
From Poppy The Story of a South African Girl by Stockley, Cynthia
LONDON—Britain’s new prime minister arrived in Downing Street last week promising stability for a weary nation bewildered after churning through six leaders in seven years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The reaction of his coach Jeroen Benard, who looked equally bewildered, was brilliant.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
“The Admin wants all of this to happen as soon as possible. It is frankly bewildered that Anthropic hasn’t wanted to comply with safety requests that it previously said were its highest priority,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
"When I first found out about it, I was slightly bewildered, if I'm being honest," said McCullum of the breach.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
That's exactly what she said, and I could not believe it, but the two of them paused and looked at each other, slightly bewildered, and then hugged.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Across Havana, private enterprise is transforming the landscape, with new businesses offering cold beer, domestic appliances or car parts popping up at a bewildering rate.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
So how can Labour escape this new bewildering world of pain?
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
But the Health and Human Services Secretary’s statements at a House hearing last Thursday were as bewildering as the FDA rejection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
There is something intuitively catchy about brain attack, even if it’s also a little bewildering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2026
His job was to prove that Dreyfus’s handwriting matched the incriminating note, and he took the stand with a bewildering display of charts and pseudoscientific diagrams.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
