befuddled

adjective

be·​fud·​dled bi-ˈfə-dᵊld How to pronounce befuddled (audio)
bē-
: utterly confused or puzzled : deeply perplexed
… somebody may be so befuddled and self-destructive as to miss the point entirely.Anne B. Fisher
I just asked her to please talk to my agent, who understood what was going on, not me. … frankly, I didn't know what to do, or whomto believe. I was totally befuddled.John Nichols

Examples of befuddled in a Sentence

the perennially befuddled professor was always forgetting where she'd left her glasses
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Aira is the befuddled target of some ribbing from a group of other company members, Ching, Mia, Jessica, Fabian, Orlando, Loy, Ralph, Jorge, who are here to show support and, most important, to catch up with one another. Han Ong, New Yorker, 22 June 2025 An approach shot on 12 left him befuddled, holding out his hands in disbelief at the ball sank into the rough short of the green. Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 15 June 2025 His Midsummer Night’s Dream—which returns to New York City Ballet repertory for one week this spring, beginning on May 27—honors the high and low humor of its befuddled lovers and decadent fairies. Matthew Brookoff, Air Mail, 17 May 2025 Inspired by the historical figure known as Lambert Simnel, THE PRETENDER (Knopf, 471 pp., $30) is a rollicking account of a befuddled boy’s pillar-to-post existence as a political pawn. Alida Becker, New York Times, 30 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for befuddled

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of befuddled was in 1838

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Cite this Entry

“Befuddled.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/befuddled. Accessed 29 Jun. 2025.

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