flummox

verb

flum·​mox ˈflə-məks 

-miks

flummoxed; flummoxing; flummoxes

transitive verb

: confuse

He was flummoxed by the legal jargon.

a happy innocent who had been flummoxed by wily city slickers

—Andy Logan

Did you know?

No one is completely sure where the word flummox comes from, but Charles Dickens was aware of it and used it in his 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers. It became quite common in both British and American English by the end of the 19th century.

Synonyms

• addle
• baffle
• bamboozle
• beat
• befog
• befuddle
• bemuse
• bewilder
• buffalo
• confound
• confuse
• discombobulate
• disorient
• fox
• fuddle
• get
• gravel
• maze
• muddle
• muddy
• mystify
• perplex
• pose
• puzzle
• vex

Examples of flummox in a Sentence

an actor who's easily flummoxed by any changes in the script

Recent Examples on the Web

In late 2020, eager for a diplomatic coup in the final days before the presidential election, Mr. Trump dispatched Mr. Grenell on a mission that has flummoxed Western diplomats for a decade: To try to coax Serbia into recognizing Kosovo, a majority-Albanian former province, as an independent state. —Elizabeth Williamson, New York Times, 25 May 2024

They were flummoxed the whole night by Padres starter Michael King, who dialed up 11 strikeouts in a scoreless seven-inning start. —Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1836, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

flummox

verb

flum·​mox

ˈfləm-əks

: confuse sense 1