bewilder

verb be·wil·der \ bi-ˈwil-dər , bē- \

|Updated on: 6 Aug 2018

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Examples: bewilder in a Sentence

Definition of bewilder

bewildered; bewildering play \bi-ˈwil-d(ə-)riŋ, bē-\

transitive verb

1 : to cause to lose one's bearings (see bearing 6c)

bewildered by the city's maze of roads

2 : to perplex or confuse especially by a complexity, variety, or multitude of objects or considerations

His decision bewildered her.

utterly bewildered by the instructions

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bewilderedly

adverb

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bewilderedness

noun

See bewilder defined for English-language learners

See bewilder defined for kids

Examples of bewilder in a Sentence

the change in policy seems to have bewildered many of our customers

Recent Examples of bewilder from the Web

All the same, this sort of misdirection is common during the early, bewildering days after an affair has been discovered.

— amy dickinson, chicagotribune.com, "Wronged wife blames the cellphone," 2 July 2018
Privacy - Terms Within a few days of cruising, however, the bewildered were few.

— david g. molyneaux, miamiherald, "This cruise ship's elevators may be smarter than you," 30 May 2018
The class is one of many services offered by local refugee settlement groups to help ease the adjustment to a new and sometimes bewildering life in America.

— brian albrecht, cleveland.com, "Congolese part of new tapestry of immigration to Cleveland," 1 Apr. 2018
Other travelers, also visibly bewildered, started scrounging around in their bags for errant packs of Goldfish and squashed energy bars.

— martine powers, Anchorage Daily News, "TSA screeners nibbling away at travelers' patience. This time over snacks.," 2 July 2018
Other travelers, also visibly bewildered, started scrounging around in their bags for errant packs of Goldfish and squashed energy bars.

— martine powers, Washington Post, "It started with your shoes, then your water. Now the TSA wants your snacks.," 29 June 2018
The pop landscape that has emerged may bewilder Bono, but space has opened up for male fury in more malleable forms than ever—and such fury seems to be, for better and for worse, in plentiful supply.

— spencer kornhaber, The Atlantic, "What Linkin Park Gave to Pop Music," 25 June 2018
As a result, the number of channels and the amount of sports programming in Spanish have multiplied and can even be bewildering.

— james wagner, New York Times, "Telemundo Has a Big Goal: Win the World Cup," 23 June 2018
Not much of that clarity, however, is evident in a mind-deadening, 252-page document that lays out the nitty-gritty elements of the bureaucratic changes in bewildering detail, mostly in glutinous prose.

— george russell, Fox News, "Trump meeting with UN chief: Handshake or showdown?," 16 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bewilder.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of bewilder

1633

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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bewilder Synonyms

Phrases

blow one's mind, go to one's head;

Synonym Discussion of bewilder

puzzle, perplex, bewilder, distract, nonplus, confound, dumbfound mean to baffle and disturb mentally. puzzle implies existence of a problem difficult to solve.