flummoxed

adjective

flum·​moxed ˈflə-məkst 

-mikst

: completely unable to understand : utterly confused or perplexed

Then, perforce, his eyes returned to the highway as he headed for I-95 and South Carolina, the most flummoxed driver on the road.

—Clive Gammon

"Seems to know as much about the inside of my larders as I do myself!" thought Mr. Baggins, who was feeling positively flummoxed…

—J. R. R. Tolkien

Examples of flummoxed in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Minnesota didn’t play poor defensively, but was seemingly flummoxed on the offensive end all night. —Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2024

Believe it or not, some of the flummoxed ESPN suits who Rodgers, and McAfee, have turned into punching bags had something to say, even putting words in Rodgers’ mouth. —Bob Raissman, Hartford Courant, 13 Jan. 2024

Yet researchers remain flummoxed in their generations-spanning quest to forge a superior theory of quantum gravity. —Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 27 Sep. 2023

And for a hundred years and more, pilgrims from the East and Midwest to this Pacific coast have sometimes found themselves a bit flummoxed over how to carry off a holiday built 400 years ago around the original Pilgrims on the Atlantic coast. —Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 23 Nov. 2023

Alas, those same analysts—this author included—remain flummoxed by events within Russia itself. —Sam Greene, Foreign Affairs, 22 Sep. 2023

But stablecoins — an asset class worth roughly $120 billion, according to CoinMarketCap — have also raised alarms in Washington and flummoxed policymakers. —Eli Tan, Washington Post, 7 Aug. 2023

The day's White House pool report – which many news outlets rely on for a tick-tock of the president's public schedule – also appeared flummoxed at Biden's remark. —Charles Creitz, Fox News, 16 June 2023

And first-time passengers are so flummoxed by it that there are online tutorials. —Dawn Gilbertson, WSJ, 7 Dec. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined above