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ad·dled | \ ˈa-dᵊld 
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\Definition of addled
1 : thrown into confusion : confused his addled brain/mind … vainly endeavouring to master some task … which, to the addled brain of the crushed boy of nineteen, was a sealed and hopeless mystery.— Charles Dickens
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Examples of addled in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web At the time, a new generation of musicians was creating exciting new synth and drum machine addled sounds.
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Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, "20 songs to take you back to ’80s roller skating rinks," 29 Apr. 2020 One of the many effects of the virus has been highlighting the deficiencies of the bloc, with the old tensions between the frugal north and the debt-addled south returning.
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Ben Sills, Fortune, "How European countries plan to reopen their economies from the coronavirus lockdown," 14 Apr. 2020 These words, from a 13-year-old actor who’s just found four new real-life heroes to look up to, is what a movie like this, with all its face-peeling villains and cocaine-addled antiheroes, is really about.
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Kelsea Stahler, refinery29.com, "If Only Everyone Could All See Birds Of Prey Through Breakout Star Ella Jay Basco’s Eyes," 12 Feb. 2020 But 2008 was also a crucial period in the construction of the tech-addled world Americans now live in.
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Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, "How Your Laptop Ruined Your Life," 10 Feb. 2020 The episode dwells on the budding romance between Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and her drug-addled boyfriend as tensions ramp up between Tony (James Gandolfini) and Ralph (Joe Pantoliano).
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NBC News, "Thanksgiving episodes are ubiquitous. Here's what to stream this weekend.," 28 Nov. 2019 Twyla’s stories of her own mother evoked a working-class version of Moira, an addled woman preoccupied by personal drama.
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Eren Orbey, The New Yorker, "The “Schitt’s Creek” Series Finale: The Vindication of Twyla," 8 Apr. 2020 Dozens of debt-addled companies, including Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Whiting Petroleum Corp., were already facing financial difficulties even before U.S. benchmark prices plummeted 25% to $31.13 a barrel Monday, the largest drop since 1991.
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Rebecca Elliott, WSJ, "U.S. Shale Drillers Could Be Casualties of Oil-Price War," 9 Mar. 2020 Pacing and script issues, like costar Sean Bean’s addled and unproductive scenes, weigh the film down.
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Washington Post, "Modding the Oscars," 6 Feb. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'addled.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for addled
The first known use of addled was in 1599
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